CHARLES  CARROLL  ALBERTSON 


tihvary  of  Che  t:heolo0ical  ^^minary 

PRINCETON    .    NEW  JERSEY 
PRESENTED  BY 

Herbert  E.  Pickett,  Jr. 


BV  4310  .A4 

Albertson,  Char! 

es 

Ca 

rro 

n, 

1865-1959. 

Chapel  talks 

CHAPEL  TALKS 


A  COLLECTION  OF  SERMONS 
TO  COLLEGE  STUDENTS 


CHARLES  CARROLL  ALBERTSON,  D.D. 

Minister,  Lafayette  Avenue  Presbyterian 
Churchy  Brooklyn 


New   York  Chicago  Toronto 

Fleming     H.     Revell     Company 

London  and  Edin'burgh 


Copyright,  191 6,  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


New  York:  158  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago;  17  North  Wabash  Ave. 
Toronto:  25  Richmond  Street,  W. 
London :  2 1  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh:      100    Princes    Street 


Preface 

TWICE  or  thrice  a  year,  by  the  gen- 
erous kindness  of  the  Session  of 
the  Lafayette  Avenue  Church,  the 
author  is  permitted  to  absent  himself  from  his 
Brooklyn  pulpit  to  fulfill  the  duties  of  a  col- 
lege ministry.  No  more  eager  and  respon- 
sive congregations  confront  any  preacher 
than  those  composed  of  young  men  and 
young  women  in  our  college  chapels.  If,  at 
times,  they  do  not  conceal  their  dislike  for 
"  mere  formalities  and  roundabout  modes  of 
speech,"  the  knowledge  of  their  liberal  ap- 
preciation of  direct  and  helpful  words  is  both 
tonic  and  inspiring. 

The  sermons  in  this  collection  have  been 
preached  during  the  last  four  or  five  years  in 
various  colleges  and  universities  in  the  East, 
including  Columbia,  Cornell,  Dartmouth, 
Princeton,  the  University  of  Virginia  and 
Yale.  Some  of  the  briefer  sermons  have 
been  delivered  at  vesper  services  in  which, 
as  at  Cornell  and  Dartmouth,  the  preacher  is 
limited  to  twelve  or  fifteen  minutes.  But  one 
may  say  a  good  deal  in  a  short  time,  by  the 
3 


4  PEEFACE 

omission  of  conventional  **  introductions," 
"  perorations  "  and  the  like.  The  necessity 
to  eliminate  all  unnecessary  elaboration  must 
exercise  a  considerable  corrective  influence  on 
one's  sermon-making.  There  is  not  a  great 
deal  of  difference  between  the  constituency 
of  the  college  congregation  and  that  of  the 
city  pastor's  Sunday  evening  congregation. 
There  are  the  same  prompt  responsiveness, 
the  same  heart-hunger  for  practical  help  in 
making  the  spiritual  life  real,  the  same 
evident  hospitality  to  new  truth  or  to  new 
statements  of  old  truth,  and  the  same  liking 
for  certain  types  of  hymns — buoyant,  joyful, 
positive,  even  militant. 

It  is  a  source  of  genuine  satisfaction  to  the 
author  that  a  former  volume  of  his  college 
sermons  has  been  useful  to  leaders  of  in- 
formal religious  services  at  certain  secondary 
schools  and  private  schools  in  which,  on 
Sunday  evenings,  sermons  or  portions  of 
sermons  have  been  read  to  the  students 
gathered  about  the  piano  for  **  family  wor- 
ship." This  fact  alone  explains,  if  it  does 
not  justify,  the  printing  of  another  book. 

C.  C.  A. 

Brooklyn^  New  York  City, 


Contents 

I.  The  Revelation  in  Us  ...         7 

(Galatians  i.  15,  16.) 

II.  My  Father's  God         ....       20 

(Exodus  XV.  2.) 

III.  Pure  Religion 35 

(James  i.  27.) 

IV.  Old  Passions  Turned  to  New  Uses        .       51 

(John  xxi.  15.) 

V.  Life's  Vigilant  Angel,  Fear  .  .       63 

(Psalm  cxi.  10.) 

VI.  A  Day  in  Nazareth      .  .  .  •75 

(Luke  iv.  16.) 

VII.  If  Thou  Knewest  ....       89 

(John  iv.  10.) 

VIII.  The  Saving  Few 99 

( I  Samuel  x.  26.) 

IX.  The  Law  of  Liberty    .         .         .         .112 

(James  i.  25.) 

X.  Saving  Others  and  Saving  One's  Self    .      122 

(Matthew  xxvii.  42.) 

XI.  The  Wonderful  Book  ,         .         •     ^33 

XII.  To  Him  that  Hath      .         .         .         *     l^S 

(Luke  viii.  18.) 

5 


CONTENTS 

I.     The  Captaincy  of  Jesus         ,         • 
(Hebrews  ii.  lo.) 

.     "54 

V,  Where  to  Find  God  ,  .  • 
(Job  xxiii.  3,  8-lo.) 

.     163 

The  Power  of  Christ  .         ,         , 

.     178 

(2  Corinthians  zii.  9.) 


The  Revelation  in  Us 

*♦  //  pleased  God  to  reveal  His  Son  in  meJ** 

— Galatians  i.  75,  16. 

THERE  may  be  some  question  as  to 
what  is  the  strongest  word  in  the 
English  language.  It  is  either  "  su- 
preme" or  "  absolute."  Both  express  power 
raised  to  the  highest  degree.  There  may  be 
some  question  as  to  what  is  the  sweetest 
word  in  our  tongue.  Is  it  "love"  or 
"home"  or  "friendship"  or  "comfort"? 
There  is  not  so  much  room  to  question  what 
is  the  greatest  word  in  our  speech.  Ask  the 
jurist,  the  naturalist,  the  historian,  the  phi- 
losopher or  the  theologian,  his  great  word, 
his  incomparable  word,  and  he  will  tell  you 
it  is  TRUTH. 

Jesus  never  said  a  nobler  thing  than  when 
He  declared,  "  Ye  shall  know  the  truth  and 
the  truth  shall  make  you  free ;  "  nor  prayed 
a  more  exalted  prayer  than  that  John  records : 
"Sanctify  them  through  Thy  truth;  Thy 
7 


8  CHAPEL  TALKS 

word  is  truth."  When  He  uttered  that  peti- 
tion, He  stood  in  full  sight  of  two  nations, 
one  seeking  the  perfection  of  life  through 
wisdom  and  beauty,  the  other  bent  upon  the 
realization  of  power  through  conquest  and 
through  law.  And,  in  view  of  these  ideals, 
Jesus  said,  without  apology  to  Athens  or  to 
Rome,  **  This  is  life  eternal,  to  know  God," 
said,  in  substance,  "  Life  at  its  best,  life  on  the 
highest  plane  and  in  the  largest  circle  ;  life 
abundant,  life  deep  and  broad  and  high,  be- 
longs neither  to  the  sage  nor  the  artist; 
neither  to  the  conqueror  nor  the  king,  but  to 
the  soul  possessing,  and  possessed  by  truth." 
Truth  is  of  various  kinds  as  to  its  nature 
and  as  to  the  mode  of  its  acquisition.  There 
are  truths  that  are  self-evident.  They  need 
no  proof,  and,  generally,  proof  is  not  called 
for.  And,  if  it  were,  in  many  instances  proof 
is  most  difficult.  It  is  an  abnormal,  not  to  say 
subnormal,  mind  that  requires  demonstration 
of  the  self-evident.  Two  men  were  in  argu- 
ment. One  said,  **  We  seem  not  to  agree  on 
anything  ;  let  us  see  if  we  have  any  common 
standing-ground.  You  will  admit,  I  suppose, 
that  two  and  two  are  four  ?  "  The  other  re- 
plied, **  I   admit  nothing.     Two  books  and 


THE  EEVELATION  IK  US  9 

two  pictures  are  neither  four  books  nor  four 
pictures.  Your  numeral  adjectives  must 
modify  the  same  nouns  1 "  Then  said  the 
first,  **  Will  you  admit  that  a  straight  line  is 
the  shortest  distance  between  two  points  ? " 
**  No,"  said  the  skeptic,  *'  I  will  not ;  it  is  so 
in  theory,  but  not  invariably  so  in  practice." 
The  argument  ended.  It  was  collision  with 
such  a  mind,  perhaps,  which  led  a  French 
philosopher  of  the  eighteenth  century  to  re- 
mark that  conversation  with  some  people 
would  be  easier  if  it  were  not  for  the  neces- 
sity of  using  words  I 

With  the  self-evident  truths  of  mathematics 
and  physics  most  of  us  are  fairly  familiar. 
But  with  the  axioms  of  ethics  and  of  religion 
we  are  not  so  well  acquainted.  Consider  one 
of  the  simplest  axioms  of  ethics  as  regards 
property.  It  may  be  thus  stated :  No  man 
ever  enriched  himself  by  defrauding  another. 
The  law  says  theft  is  wrong.  This  axiom 
declares  it  is  futile.  Some  people  do  not  be- 
lieve it.  They  insist  upon  experiment,  but 
in  the  end,  the  axiom  is  self-evidencing. 
There  is  one  illuminating  moment,  soon  or 
late,  in  the  life  of  every  unjust  man  when  he 
sees  things  as  they  are,  when  it  dawns — or 


10  CHAPEL  TALKS 

flashes — upon  him  that  possession  and  own- 
ership are  not  synonymous  terms,  that  he 
has  been  juggling  with  two  and  two,  con- 
fusing straight  lines  and  crooked,  and  when 
he  pronounces  upon  himself  the  sentence  he 
has  yet  to  hear  from  the  Throne  of  all  Equi- 
ties, "  Thou  fool  I " 

What  are  some  of  the  axiomatic  truths 
of  religion?  God,  the  soul,  sin,  salvation, 
prayer.  These  exist  in  some  form  in  all 
religions.  If  religion  be  thought  of  as  a 
picture,  these  are  the  primary  colours ;  if  as 
a  building,  these  are  the  foundation.  Our 
Scriptures  never  argue  that  there  is  a  God, 
or  that  man  is  immortal,  or  that  we  need  to 
be  saved  from  sin,  or  that  we  ought  to  pray. 
This  Book  simply  and  grandly  affirms  these 
truths ;  but  demonstration  is  not  needed. 
All  men  believe  in  God — all  men  always 
have  believed  in  God — at  times.  All  men 
pray — all  men  always  have  prayed — at  times. 
Which  is  to  say,  however  mad  we  are,  we  do 
have  our  lucid  intervals ;  however  "  blinded 
by  the  near,"  we  have  our  moments  of  far- 
sight ;  in  the  great  crises  of  our  lives  we  fall 
back  upon  the  axioms  of  religion. 

But,  however  great  may  be  the  number  of 


THE  BEVELATION  IN  US  11 

self-evident  truths  of  every  kind,  and  how- 
ever they  may  unconsciously  underlie  all  our 
ordinary  thinking,  they  are  few,  compared 
with  that  vast  body  of  truths  which  are  not 
self-evident,  but  are  discoverable.  They  are 
benevolently  few.  It  is  good  for  us  that  most 
truths  are  concealed  from  view ;  that  we  must 
search  for  them,  dig  for  them,  climb  for  them ; 
for  the  reward  of  the  truth-seeker  is  not  alto- 
gether in  the  truth  he  seeks,  but  as  well  in 
the  process  of  discovery.  He  was  wise  who 
said,  **  If  the  great  God  were  to  offer  me  the 
choice  of  two  gifts,  in  one  hand  truth,  and  in 
the  other  the  quest  of  truth,  I  should  take 
this,  not  that." 

It  is  one  of  the  glories  of  our  age  that  there 
are  increasing  numbers  of  men  who  reckon 
not  any  sacrifice  too  costly,  who  count  not 
their  own  lives  dear  to  them,  if  by  any  means 
they  may  add  to  the  world's  storehouse  of 
truth.  There  are  men  in  this,  and  every  uni- 
versity, who  would  much  rather  discover  a 
new  truth  in  their  branch  of  science  than  to 
uncover  a  pot  of  gold.  **  Buy  the  truth  and 
sell  it  not"  is  their  motto, — obtain  it  at  any 
price,  part  with  it  at  no  price.  The  particu- 
lar truth  discovered  may  not  be  applicable  to 


12  CHAPEL  TALKS 

life  ;  it  may  not  even  be  interesting  to  the 
world  ;  but  if  it  be  truth,  they  have  their 
reward. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  many  of  these 
discoveries  are  practicable.  The  scalpel,  the 
crucible,  the  retort,  the  test  tube,  the  micro- 
scope,— these  are  the  weapons  with  which, 
in  laboratory  and  machine-shop,  humanity's 
adventurous  soldiers  have  pushed  back  the 
horizon  of  darkness  and  enlarged  the  sphere 
of  Hght  and  learning  and  labour. 

Nor  are  investigation  and  research  alien  to 
the  spirit  of  religion.  Nature's  laws  are  but 
the  habits  of  God.  Not  alone  the  devout 
astronomer,  but  the  devout  chemist  and  the 
devout  biologist  and  the  devout  machinist, 
may  say,  **  O  God,  I  think  Thy  thoughts 
after  Thee  1 "  Christianity  with  its  dominant 
social  doctrine  of  the  largest  possible  de- 
velopment of  the  individual,  its  doctrine  of 
the  development  of  the  individual  through 
vital  relationship  to  all  other  individuals, 
its  doctrine  that  no  one  of  us  can  be  at 
his  best  until  all  others  are  at  their  best, — 
such  a  Christianity  is  hospitable  to  every 
truth,  friendly  to  every  truth-seeker.  Not 
alone  the  things  that  are,  but  the  things  that 


THE  EEYELATIO:sr  IN  US  13 

ought  to  be,  are  for  us  to  meditate, — ideal 
conditions  of  industry,  of  economics,  of  com- 
merce, of  society.  Not  alone  **  whatsoever 
things  are  true,"  but  **  whatsoever  things  are 
equitable,  whatsoever  things  are  pure,  what- 
soever things  are  beautiful,  whatsoever  things 
are  well-spoken  of," — on  them  we  are  to 
think. 

But  there  are  other  truths  which  are  neither 
axiomatic  nor  discoverable.  They  do  not 
evidence  themselves,  nor  do  they  lie  at  the 
end  of  any  process  of  logic  or  research. 
They  become  known  to  us,  if  at  all,  only  by 
revelation.  They  are  of  such  a  character  as 
to  defy  analysis  and  exclude  demonstration. 
But  let  us  not  think  less  of  them  on  this  ac- 
count. There  are  intimate  and  far-reaching 
realms  of  life  where  there  is  no  room  for  the 
analyst.  Such  are  the  realms  of  friendship 
and  love  and  conscience  and  honour.  The 
scientific  investigator  has  no  standing  there. 
The  pure  materialist  is  helpless  there.  Fal- 
stafi  is  there  with  his  yardstick  measuring 
honour.  See  how  he  does  it :  "  Can  honour 
set  to  a  leg  ?  No.  Or  an  arm  ?  No.  Or 
take  away  the  grief  of  a  ^ wound?  No. 
Honour  hath  no  skill  in  surgery,  then  ?     No. 


14  CHAPEL  TALKS 

What  is  honor  ?  A  word.  What  is  in  that 
word  honour  ?  What  is  that  honour  ?  Air. 
.  .  .  Who  hath  it?  He  that  died 
o' Wednesday.  Doth  he  feel  it  ?  No.  Doth 
he  hear  it?  No.  'Tis  insensible,  then? 
Yea,  to  the  dead.  But  will  it  not  live  with 
the  living?  No.  Why?  Detraction  will 
not  suffer  it.  Therefore  I'll  none  of  it. 
Honour  is  a  mere  scutcheon :  and  so  ends 
my  catechism." 

Here  also  is  another  realm,  as  near  to  us 
as  friendship  and  love,  as  dear  to  us  as  con- 
science and  honour,  yet  equally  far  from 
ocular  demonstration.  It  is  the  realm  of 
faith.  Of  a  truth  in  this  realm  Jesus  spoke 
after  Peter  had  confessed,  *•  Thou  art  the 
Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God  " :  "  Flesh 
and  blood  hath  not  revealed  this  to  thee,  but 
my  Father  which  is  in  heaven."  Of  such  a 
truth  Paul  spoke  when  he  said,  "  This  is  a 
faithful  saying  and  worthy  of  all  acceptation, 
that  Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save 
sinners." 

Let  pure  reason  deal  with  the  fact  of  Jesus' 
advent,  and  it  will  say,  "  Jesus  came  to  pro- 
claim the  love  of  God  and  to  exemplify  the 
ideal  life."     But  let  revelation  speak,  and  lo  I 


THE  EEVELATION  IN  US  16 

it  says :  *'  Not  alone  to  show  how  human  is 
the  heart  of  God  and  how  divine  may  be  the 
life  of  man,  but  to  lift  man  up  to  God,  came 
Jesus  Christ  from  God." 

This  is  the  truth  worthy  of  all  acceptation  : 
Underneath  are  everlasting  arms.  Under- 
neath what?  Underneath  our  failures  and 
our  follies ;  underneath  our  weakness  and 
weariness ;  underneath  the  problem  of  the 
purification,  enlightenment  and  elevation  of 
our  lives.  He  lifts  us.  He  lifts  us  out  of 
ourselves,  above  ourselves,  our  selfish  selves, 
our  narrow  selves,  our  Httle  selves,  our  too- 
easily-satisfied  selves,  out  of  moral  impotence, 
to  freedom  and  power. 

An  Oriental  Christian  pictured  his  deliver- 
ance thus  :  **  I  had  fallen  into  a  deep  ditch 
from  which  I  could  not,  unaided,  escape. 
Confucius  came,  looked  down  on  me,  and 
said,  *'  If  you  had  obeyed  my  laws  you  would 
never  have  been  in  such  a  plight."  Buddha 
came,  looked  down  on  me,  and  said,  '*  Cease 
your  struggling.  Repress  your  desire  to  es- 
cape. Be  calm  and  passionless ;  presently 
you  will  be  indifferent  to  your  fate."  An- 
other came,  looked  down  on  me,  and  said, 
**  You  are  not  in  distress, — you  merely  think 


16  CHAPEL  TALKS 

you  are.  You  thought  yourself  into  error ; 
you  must  think  yourself  out."  Then  Jesus 
Christ  came,  and  saw  me,  and  pitied  me,  and 
stooped  down  and  with  His  strong  but  tender 
Hand  lifted  me  out  of  the  pit.  Do  you  won- 
der I  follow  Him  ?  " 

This  is  the  great  truth  of  revelation.  But 
it  is  not  all  of  the  truth.  The  further  truth 
relates  to  the  method  of  the  revelation  of 
God.  Paul  affirms,  *'  It  pleased  God  to  re- 
veal His  Son  in  me."  If  there  is  any  esoteric 
truth  in  Christianity — any  truth  designed  for 
the  initiate  only — this  is  it.  "  The  secret  of 
the  Lord  is  with  them  that  fear  Him." 

Self-evident  truths  are  perceived.  Discov- 
ered truths  are  apprehended.  Revealed 
truths  are  experienced.  So  this  truth  is  not 
for  the  acute  intellect,  nor  for  the  industrious 
mind,  but  for  the  open  heart.  This  explains 
the  saying,  **  Thou  hast  hid  these  things 
from  the  wise  and  prudent  and  hast  revealed 
them  unto  babes." 

He  who  wrote  this  text  to  the  Galatians 
wrote  to  the  Colossians,  **  Christ  in  you  (is) 
the  hope  of  glory."  And  the  Master  Himself 
said  something  very  like  it  to  the  Samaritan 
woman  :  **  Whoso  drinketh  of  the  water  that 


THE  EEYELATION  IN  US  17 

I  shall  give  him  shall  never  thirst ;  but  the 
water  that  I  shall  give  him  shall  be  in  him  a 
well  of  water  springing  up  into  everlasting 
life." 

Power  within,  uprising  and  upbearing.  Is 
there  anything  like  it  ?  Look  at  the  mecha- 
nism of  a  canal-lock.  From  underneath  floods 
of  water  pour  into  the  basin,  lifting  its  sur- 
face, and,  incidentally,  lifting  all  burdens  that 
rest  upon  its  surface  to  higher  levels. 

There  is  a  stanza  in  a  recent  poem,  with 
which  you  are  familiar,  which  derives  its  force 
from  such  a  symbol : 

"  Like  tides  on  a  crescent  sea-beach 
When  the  moon  is  new  and  thin, 
Into  our  hearts  high  yearnings 
Come  sweeping  and  surging  in, — 
Come  from  the  Infinite  Ocean 
Whose  rim  no  feet  have  trod : 
Some  of  us  call  it  longing, 
And  others  call  it  God." 

It  is  God,  and  the  fact  is  He  comes  in  with 
the  longing.  So  said  Jesus,  '*  Blessed  are 
they  that  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteous- 
ness, for  they  shall  be  filled." 

This  is  the  blessed  truth  of  the  evangel. 
The  Infinite  seeks  alliance  with  us.     Jesus 


18  CHAPEL  TALKS 

Christ,  by  His  Spirit,  seeks  entrance  not  alone 
into  our  lives,  but  into  our  consciousness. 
He  seeks  it  for  our  sakes.  We  shall  never  be 
all  we  may  be  until  we  are  in  union  with  Him. 
He  seeks  it  for  His  own  sake,  for  Jesus  Christ 
can  never  be  the  Universal  Saviour  He  desires 
to  be  until  all  men  everywhere  are  in  union 
with  Him. 

It  is  wonderful  how  a  life  may  be  filled  and 
rounded  by  fellowship  with  one  true  friend, 
one  great  and  loyal  soul.  Our  personalities 
come  to  their  best  development  through  our 
friends,  and  their  personalities  reach  their 
highest  power  through  us. 

This  is  the  secret  of  the  Christian  life,  of  the 
strongest  and  most  radiant  souls — they  heard 
the  voice  of  a  Divine  Friend  saying,  "  Behold 
I  stand  at  the  door  and  knock :  if  any  man 
will  hear  My  voice  and  open  unto  Me,  I  will 
come  in  and  sup  with  him  and  he  with  Me." 
And  they  were  not  deaf  to  the  Voice. 

A  child  once  saw  Holman  Hunt's  picture 
illustrating  these  words, — a  Kingly  figure  at 
the  door,  a  lantern  in  His  hand,  the  door  vine- 
embowered,  and  after  studying  it,  said,  "  I 
wonder  if  the  door  has  been  shut  so  long  they 
can't  open  it  ?  "     Presently  another  solution, 


THE  EEVELATION  IN  US  19 

perhaps  the  true  solution,  occurred  to  him, 
and  he  said,  "  I  know  why  He  is  standing 
there  1  They  don't  hear  Him, — they  are  liv- 
ing in  the  back  of  the  house  1 " 

Whatever  reason,  or  whatever  notion  serv- 
ing as  a  reason,  whatever  pride,  or  prejudice, 
or  preoccupation,  or  passion  has  closed  our 
hearts  to  Him  whose  entrance  into  our  affec- 
tions waits  upon  our  will,  let  us  this  day  rise 
up  and  let  Him  in  1 


II 

My  Father's  God 

"  He  is  my  father's  God,  and  1  will  exalt  Him,'* 

' — Exodus  XV.  2* 

THE  text  is  a  part  of  one  of  the  earliest 
songs  we  know.  And  it  is  a  great 
song,  great  in  its  epic  majesty  and 
great  in  its  emotional  appeal.  It  was  com- 
posed and  sung  on  a  memorable  occasion, — 
the  deliverance  of  Israel's  hosts  from  the  pur- 
suing army  of  Egypt.  Marvellous  were  its 
accompaniments.  The  sea  was  casting  up 
its  dead  at  their  feet.  Behind  them  were  two 
centuries  of  slavery,  before  them  the  prospect 
of  a  new  life  in  a  free  land. 

They  had  witnessed  signs  and  wonders. 
They  had  experienced  the  travail  pains  of  a 
nation.  No  wonder  they  sang.  A  nation 
born  in  a  day  I  Not  thus  did  our  nation — not 
thus,  perhaps,  has  any  other  nation — come 
into  being.  Most  nations  grow  as  the  River 
Rhine  grows,  from  innumerable  sources  in 
springs  and  tributary  streams.  The  Jewish 
20 


MY  FATHEE'S  GOD  21 

nation  began  as  the  Rhone  begins, — where  it 
leaps  into  power  from  the  melting  heart  of  a 
glacier.  Egypt's  cold  hard  heart  has  melted, 
and  lo !  a  nation  flows  out,  a  great  nation,  to 
mingle  its  history  with  that  of  earth's  might- 
iest peoples ;  destined  never  to  be  vast  in 
area,  never  to  be  capable  of  conquests  such 
as  those  of  Persia  or  Rome,  but  truly  great 
in  the  extent  of  its  historic  influence,  and  in 
the  expansive  power  of  its  ideas. 

He  who  composed  this  song  was  a  gifted 
poet, — the  same  who  wrote,  "  Lord,  Thou  hast 
been  our  dwelling  place  in  all  generations," 
words  which  have  been  spoken  beside  more 
open  graves  than  any  other.  Thus  the  great 
song  begins : 

"  I  will  sing  unto  the  Lord, 
For  He  hath  triumphed  gloriously  ! 
The  horse  and  his  rider  hath  He  thrown  into 

the  sea ! 
The  Lord  is  my  strength  and  song, 
And  He  is  become  my  salvation  : 
He  is  my  God, 

And  I  will  prepare  Him  an  habitation ; 
(He  is)  my  father's  God,  and  I  will  exalt  Him." 

It  may  not  be  possible  to  recall  all  that  was 
in  Moses'  mind  when  he  sang  of  his  father's 


22  CHAPEL  TALKS 

God,  but  more  or  less  clearly  he  must  have 
perceived  the  indebtedness  of  the  Present  to 
the  Past.  He  knew  he  was  what  he  was 
largely  because  his  fathers  were  what  they 
were.  The  blood  of  Joseph  was  in  his  veins, 
and  back  of  Joseph  were  Jacob  and  Isaac  and 
Abraham,  the  pioneers  of  the  Covenant  with 
God.  He  was  not  only  their  descendant  but 
their  heir.  If  he  had  a  knowledge  of  the 
true  God,  they  had  transmitted  it  to  him. 

And  we  are  in  like  relation  to  the  past. 
**  Others  have  laboured  and  we  have  entered 
into  their  labours."  There  is  not  a  truth  we 
hold  dear,  or  an  institution  we  cherish,  which 
is  not  the  fruit  of  the  labour  and  struggle, 
the  tears  and  the  blood  of  others,  who  pre- 
ceded us  here.  This  liberty  of  worship  we 
prize  so  highly — at  least  in  theory ;  this  lib- 
erty we  hold  dear — and  interpret  as  an  equal 
liberty  not  to  worship  ;  this  liberty  we  love — 
and  neglect  to  exercise  on  inclement  Sun- 
days,— how  did  it  come  to  us  ?  As  come  the 
air,  the  winds,  the  night  and  day  ?  Far  from 
it !  Men  and  women  have  been  herded  in 
foul  prisons,  or  tortured  and  starved,  or 
thrown  to  the  beasts,  or  consumed  by  fagot- 
fires,  or  chained  to  stakes  at  low-tide  until 


MY  FATHEE'S  GOD  23 

the  hungry  sea  has  come  up  to  strangle  and 
swallow  them, — all  that  we  might  have  the 
right  to  [meet  for  prayer  and  praise  after 
our  hearts'  desire.  Listen  to  John  Bunyan, 
dreamer  of  dreams  and  seer  of  visions. 
From  his  narrow  cell  he  hears  the  plash  of 
the  waters  against  Bedford  Bridge ;  through 
its  small  window  the  air  and  sunshine  of 
England's  springtime  beckon  him.  Freedom 
is  dear  to  him  as  to  us,  and  his  blind  daughter 
is  at  the  door.  Yet  when  they  tell  him  he 
may  go  if  he  will  but  promise  no  more  to 
hold  '*  unlawful  conventicles,"  he  replies,  "  If 
you  let  me  out  to-day  I  will  preach  again  to- 
morrow." Liberty  of  speech  and  of  assembly 
were  the  issues  there  ! 

And  this  citizenship  of  ours,  this  right  to 
shape  the  policies  and  determine  the  prin- 
ciples of  civil  government ;  this  right  to 
choose  the  men  who  shall  rule  over  and  serve 
under  us  ;  this  kingly  prerogative  some  men 
barter  for  a  price  ;  this  royal  authority  some 
of  us  abdicate  when  going  to  primaries  or 
polls  interferes  with  a  business  trip  or  a  pic- 
nic,— is  it  a  small  and  negligible  thing? 
Think  not  so.  Armies  have  contended  for 
it.     Commons  have  gone  to  war  with  kings 


24  CHAPEL  TALKS 

for  it.  For  it  Milton  wrote  himself  blind, 
Penn  went  to  the  tower,  and  many  a  noble 
head  was  severed  from  its  brave  body  ;  all 
that  government  might  be  by  the  many,  not 
the  few. 

This  land,  which  we  never  really  love  until 
we  have  seen  somewhat  of  other  lands,  is  a 
part  of  our  inheritance.  Our  flag, — other 
hands  raised  it,  and  made  it  the  symbol  of 
liberty  and  law. 

There  is  hardly  anything  we  have  that  is 
not  inherited.  Our  fathers  have  given  us  our 
books,  our  pictures,  our  highways,  the  very 
means  of  our  existence.  Our  fathers  founded 
colleges,  and  endowed  libraries  for  us  ;  for  us 
they  bridged  rivers  and  tunnelled  mountains. 
The  present  prospers  because  firm-rooted  in 
the  past. 

There  is  a  spiHt  of  Philistinism  abroad 
which  teaches  contempt  for  the  past.  De- 
mocracy is  vulgarly  understood  to  imply  in- 
difference as  to  ancestry.  False  liberalism, 
pseudo-progressivism  (using  the  term  in  its 
general  sense)  says,  '*  Come  now,  let  us  liber- 
ate ourselves  from  the  past  1 ''  This  is  the 
spirit  that  tramples  on  tradition,  despises 
precedent,  scorns  authority,  and  writes  upon 


MY  FATHER'S  GOD  25 

its  banners,  *'  Anywhere  is  our  goal,  just  so 
we  keep  moving :  anything  is  our  aim,  so  it 
be  something  else  1 " 

And,  be  it  confessed,  we  must  keep  mov- 
ing. When  Alice  in  Wonderland  complained 
to  the  Queen  that  with  all  their  running  they 
seemed  to  make  no  progress,  the  Queen  ex- 
plained, **  We  have  to  hurry  up  to  stay  where 
we  are,  here ! "  But  we  must  not  forget 
there  is  a  spiral  movement  in  history.  We 
return  where  we  were  before,  but  slowly  we 
ascend.  The  return  to  the  past  is  a  part  of 
our  upward  progress.  The  process  of  evolu- 
tion does  not  discard  old  forms  ;  it  incorpo- 
rates them,  and  moves  on  I 

It  is  not  far  from  contempt  for  the  past  to 
indifference  to  the  future.  He  who  says, 
**  The  past  imposes  no  obligation,"  has  but  a 
step  to  take  to  default  in  payment  of  all 
claims  upon  him  by  the  future.  Possibly  the 
self-seeking  politician  who  exclaimed,  **  Pos-' 
terity?  What  has  posterity  ever  done  for 
us?  "  is  not  so  much  a  caricature  as  a  portrait 
— shall  we  say  a  composite  portrait  ? 

What  is  the  Present?  A  bridge,  a  pon- 
toon bridge,  across  the  swiftly  flowing  years 
between  the  Past  and  the  Future.     It  is  for 


26  CHAPEL  TALKS 

us  to  carry  over  all  that  is  worthy  in  what  the 
Past  has  handed  down  to  us, — to  transmit  it 
without  the  loss  of  a  single  treasure,  and  to 
transmit  with  it  something  we  have  added  to 
that  wealth  by  the  works  of  our  hands,  the 
thoughts  of  our  minds,  the  faith  of  our  souls. 

Our  fathers'  gift  of  freedom  we  are  to  pre- 
serve— and  transmit ;  and  if  we  can  add  to 
it ;  if  we  can  make  any  man  or  class  of  men 
— or  women — free  whom  they  did  not  make 
free,  we  are  to  do  that  by  way  of  interest  on 
our  original  capital  I 

Our  fathers'  land  we  are  to  love,  and  im- 
prove, and  bequeath  unimpoverished  and  un- 
diminished. If  we  are  consuming  the  coal- 
supply,  we  must  discover  new  sources  of  fuel. 
If  we  deforest  the  hills  and  mountains,  we 
must  reforest  them.  If  we  exhaust  the  soil, 
we  must  reenrich  it.  We  must,  because  we 
ought,  and  ought  means  "  owe  it." 

Our  fathers'  gift  of  popular  government 
we  are  to  defend  against  those,  on  one  hand, 
who  would  limit  it  by  delivering  it,  bound, 
to  a  corrupt  ring,  and  on  the  other  hand, 
against  those  who,  because  of  evil  conditions, 
would  intrust  it  to  a  small  commission. 
There   may   be    emergencies   which    justify 


MY  FATHEE'S  GOD  27 

such  an  experiment.  We  may  need,  here 
and  there,  object  lessons  in  municipal  effi- 
ciency and  economy  under  expert  manage- 
ment. Three  or  five  or  seven  picked  men 
may  be  able  to  give  us  a  more  nearly  perfect 
city-government  than  we  have  given  our- 
selves, but  the  virtue  of  democracy  is  in  the 
paradox  that  it  is  generally  better  for  a  hun- 
dred thousand  to  govern  themselves  imper- 
fectly, and  so  in  time  learn  the  art  of  self- 
government — than  for  one  man — or  ten  men 
— to  govern  them  perfectly. 

What  I  have  been  trying  to  say  is  this : 
We  are  debtors  to  the  Future  for  what  we 
have  received  of  the  Past ;  for  what  we  have 
received,  and  for  as  much  more  as  we  can 
add  to  it.  And  the  best  we  have  received 
and  can  give  is  GoD. 

Our  fathers'  God.  This  thought  inspired 
Kipling's  "  Recessional "  and  Dr.  Smith's 
"America."  Our  fathers  had  a  God.  The 
great  constructive  work  of  Christendom  has 
been  wrought  by  men  who  had  a  God. 
Cathedrals,  miracles  in  marble,  were  built  by 
men  who  believed  in  Him.  Immortal  poems 
were  written  by  men  to  whom  He  was  a  re- 
ality.    Continents  were  discovered   by  men 


28  CHAPEL  TALKS 

who  sought  His  glory.  Constitutions  were 
written  by  men  who  invoked  His  guidance. 
Painters  painted  as  in  His  sight.  Cities 
were  founded  in  His  name.  Wherever  we 
go  among  our  modern  nations  we  see  that, 
whatever  our  faith  or  our  lack  of  it,  our  fa- 
thers had  a  faith  in  God. 

If  their  faith  was  sometimes  accompanied 
by  a  fear  that  did  God  no  honour,  let  us  be 
careful  in  our  effort  to  eliminate  that  fear, 
lest  we  also  eliminate  God. 

There  are  nations  which  seem  not  to  be 
able  to  get  rid  of  an  imposed  religion  with- 
out getting  rid  of  the  faith  of  which  that  re- 
ligion was  the  faithless  guardian.  There  are 
souls  confronting  that  same  problem.  Oh, 
that  we  may  learn  how  possible  it  is  to  cling 
to  faith  in  God  after  all  things  else,  that  have 
attached  themselves  to  faith  like  barnacles  to 
a  ship,  have  been  stripped  off ;  when  all  the 
parasites  that  have  lived  on  faith,  and  well- 
nigh  sucked  the  substance  out  of  it,  have 
been  swept  away  I 

In  Jesus'  day  faith  in  God  had  been  so 
long  confused  with  faith  in  countless  other 
things  that  men  had  lost  their  sense  of  God. 
He  came  to  restore  it.     He  did  restore  it. 


MY  FATHER'S  GOD  29 

Music  and  millinery,  cadences  and  candle- 
sticks, washings  and  fastings,  speculations 
and  discussions,  had  been  piled  up  around 
religion  like  scaffolding  around  a  temple,  and 
at  last  men  mistook  the  scaffolding  for  the 
temple.  Jesus  looked  straight  through  all 
that,  and  showed  us  our  fathers'  God,  very 
real  and  very  near.  That  was  His  mission, — 
to  confirm  our  spiritual  intuitions,  to  reveal 
to  us  the  Undiscoverable.  How  direct  and 
transparent,  how  plain  and  appealing  is  His 
conception  of  God.  This  is  a  part  of  "  the 
simplicity  that  is  in  Christ." 

The  singer's  heart  was  glad  and  grateful 
as  he  thought  of  his  fathers'  God.  Their 
faith  was  the  best  part  of  them.  Our  fathers' 
faith  was  their  choicest  possession,  as  it  was 
the  inspiration  of  their  highest  achievement. 
The  fortunes  they  built  up  have  been  scat- 
tered. The  houses  they  erected  have  fallen 
into  decay,  or  have  been  replaced  by  larger. 
But  their  faith, — has  anybody  perfected  an 
improvement  on  that?  Has  anybody  dis- 
covered a  wiser  God  ?  (There  used  to  be  a 
man  who  thought  he  might  have  been  of 
some  service  to  the  Creator  had  he  been 
present  when  things  were  planned  I    He  said, 


30  CHAPEL  TALKS 

"  Now  I  would  have  made  health  contagious 
instead  of  sickness  if  I  had  been  God !"  And 
in  his  innocence  of  logic  he  never  saw  what 
a  blunder  that  would  have  been — that  he 
would  have  made  sickness  our  normal  con- 
dition! Far  wiser,  though  without  a  sense 
of  humour,  was  the  young  woman  who, 
some  one  told  Thomas  Carlyle,  had  said, 
"  I  accept  the  universe  as  it  is,"  which  made 
the  old  man  smile  grimly  as  he  remarked, 
"  What  trouble  she'd  make  for  herself  if  she 
insisted  upon  some  other  kind  of  a  universe.") 

Has  anybody  discovered  a  saner  Saviour 
than  He  who  said,  **I  am  the  Way,  the 
Truth  and  the  Life  "  ?  Has  anybody  discov- 
ered a  mightier  Holy  Spirit  ?  Has  anybody 
written  a  Book  richer  in  sweetness  and  light 
than  the  Bible?  Has  any  poet  dreamed  a 
fairer  dream  of  the  future  than  was  theirs 
who  pillowed  their  dying  heads  upon  the 
promise,  "In  my  Father's  house  are  many 
mansions "  ?  Has  any  reformer  devised  a 
better  method  of  uplifting  society  than  by 
uplifting  the  folks,  one  by  one,  of  whom 
society  is  composed  ? 

Is  there  any  modern  way  of  making  people 
good  by  contract  or  by  legislation?     Is  sin 


MY  FATHER'S  GOD  31 

diminished  by  denying  its  existence,  or  by 
applying  to  it  a  name  less  "  short  and  ugly  "  ? 
Can  mere  culture  cure  moral  cancer?  Is 
there  any  other  way  of  getting  into  the  king- 
dom of  God  than  by  being  born  into  it,  or, 
in  fact,  any  other  kingdom?  (A  plant  is 
born  into  the  vegetable  kingdom — born  from 
above  *  forces  from  above  lift  it.)  The  Chris- 
tian is  born  into  God's  kingdom— lifted  from 
a  lower  level  by  a  "  Power  not  himself.'* 

We  are  sinners.  Before  the  tribunal  of 
moral  judgment  Universal  Conscience  pleads 
guilty.  We  need  a  Saviour.  The  purest  are 
most  conscious  of  their  need.  If  the  water 
supply  in  our  houses  were  polluted,  he  would 
be  a  poor  sanitary  engineer  who  would  be 
content  to  silver-plate  the  faucets  1  If  we 
were  dying  of  sleeping-sickness,  he  would 
be  a  foolish  physician  who  would  prescribe 
nothing  better  than  alarm  clocks ! 

Oh,  these  modern  substitutes  for  religion  I 
these  methods  of  making  us  forget  our 
fathers'  God.  They  are  not  oases,  but  mi- 
rages ;  painted  fires  to  sit  at ;  painted  oceans 
to  bathe  in !  They  are  too  obviously  man- 
made  I 

Religion  is  no  new  thing  among  us.     We 


32  CHAPEL  TALKS 

have  all  had  religious  training.  Stealing  out 
of  the  morning  lands  of  memory  come  songs 
of  faith,  prayers  of  blessing,  vows  of  service, 
dedications  of  children,  promises  to  dear  ones, 
all,  all  binding  us  to  our  fathers'  God. 

And  stretching  out  their  eager  hands  from 
the  imagined  lands  of  hope  are  generations 
yet  to  be  to  whom  the  promise  is.  Shall 
we  hand  on  to  them  an  abandoned  faith,  an 
enfeebled  church,  a  contracted  Kingdom  of 
God  ?  If  so,  ours  is  the  loss,  and  theirs  who 
shall  follow  us, — our  fathers  have  escaped 
the  moral  bankruptcy  which  must  ensue  1 

An  old  Jewish  tailor,  who  worships  God 
after  the  manner  of  his  fathers,  was  saying 
the  other  day,  "I  am  unhappy  about  the 
future  of  my  family.  I  pray  every  day.  My 
son  prays  once  a  week.  My  grandson  prays 
once  a  year.  When  will  his  son  pray  ? " 
**  Once — when  he  is  dying  1 "  Where  shall 
end  a  diminishing  equation,  }i  x  j4  x  j4  and 
so  on?  The  phrase,  "Our  fathers'  God," 
means  something  to  us.  What  shall  it  mean 
to  the  men  of  to-morrow?  We  are  writing 
their  song  now.  Perhaps  the  phrase,  "Our 
mothers'  God,"  means  more  to  some  of  us, 
for  women  are  so  much  more  faithful  than 


MY  FATHER'S  GOD  33 

men,  so  much  more  reverent  that  they  have 
been  called  **the  conscience  of  the  race." 
But  it  is  all  included  in  the  text.  Our  fathers* 
God  is  the  God  of  all  worshipful  souls : 

"Bards,  prophets,  heroes,  sages. 
The  noble  of  all  ages 
Whose  deeds  crown  history's  pages 
And  time's  great  volume  fill." 

The  text  is  a  call  to  exalt  their  God,  a  call  to 
make  Him  our  God.  It  is  so,  and  only  so, 
we  begin  to  exalt  Him, — by  deliberately 
choosing  Him  to  be  our  God.  He  it  is  who 
speaks  to  us  this  day  in  solemn  entreaty, 
"  Wilt  thou  not  from  this  time  cry  unto  Me, 
*  My  Father,  Thou  art  the  Guide  of  my  youth,' 
and  '  If  with  all  your  hearts  ye  truly  seek  Me, 
ye  shall  surely  find  Me  near  1 '  " 

I  spoke  of  Kipling's  "  Recessional."  There 
is  a  recent  poem  suggested  by  that  eloquent 
first  line,  written  by  one  who  would  call  us 
back  to  our  fathers'  faith  : 

**  God  of  our  fathers,  known  of  old, 
Lord  of  all  souls  that  love  the  light, 
Who  taught  the  heroes  to  be  bold 
And  led  the  saints  who  walked  in  white, 
Gird  Thou  our  loins  and  guide  our  feet 
That  we  for  such  an  heritage  be  meet ! 


34  CHAPEL  TALKS 

"  God  of  all  martyrs  and  all  saints, 
Touch  us  and  teach  us  how  to  pray, 
How  to  believe,  and  hush  complaints, 
And  how  to  serve  in  this  our  day 
As  served  apostles  of  the  faith 
Who  bore  the  cross  and  smiled  on  death  I 

"  Christ  of  the  seeker  after  truth, 
Christ  of  the  doubter's  honest  quest, 
Friend  of  the  sorely  tempted  youth. 
Friend  of  the  weary  needing  rest, 
The  Father's  glory  in  Thy  face 
Shines  on  us  full  of  truth  and  grace." 


Ill 

Pure  Religion 

"  Pure  religion  and  un defiled  before  God  our 
Father  is  this, — to  visit  the  fatherless  and  wid- 
ows in  their  affliction  and  to  keep  one's  self  un- 
spotted from  the  world.^^ — James  i.  27. 

THERE  is  much  mystery  about  re- 
ligion. Tliere  is  not  so  much  mys- 
tery in  religion.  It  is  easy  to  get 
lost  in  the  fog  of  speculation  concerning  a 
thousand  things  that  are  related  to  religion. 
But  religion  itself,  in  its  fundamental  motives 
and  manifestations,  is  a  simple  thing, — how 
simple,  some  of  us  have  never  even  dreamed. 
We  do  not  have  to  solve  the  problem  of 
transportation  in  order  to  buy  a  railroad 
ticket,  and  enter  a  train,  and  leave  it  at  our 
destination.  It  is  not  absolutely  necessary  to 
understand  the  chemistry  of  cooking  in  order 
to  enjoy  a  good  dinner,  or  endure  a  poor  one. 
It  is  quite  possible  for  one  to  have  an  excel- 
lent friend, — a  friend  who  is  one's  keenest 
and  kindest  critic,  a  friend  who  is  a  sort  of 
35 


36  CHAPEL  TALKS 

** beautiful  enemy" — and  remain  in  total  ig- 
norance of  the  psychology  and  philosophy  of 
friendship. 

There  is  a  philosophy  of  religion,  a  meta- 
physics of  religion,  vast  and  voluminous, — 
more  voluminous  than  luminous  :  but  such 
knowledge  is  not  indispensable  to  religious 
experience.  It  is  valuable,  let  us  not  doubt 
that,  but  it  is  not  indispensable  to  practical 
religion. 

The  text  is  a  definition  of  pure  religion.  It 
is  the  studied  opinion  of  a  practical  man, 
James,  probably  a  brother  of  Jesus,  a  younger 
son  in  the  household  of  Mary  and  Joseph. 
James  is  a  typical  younger  brother.  What 
younger  brother  ever  accepted  his  elder 
brother's  claims  at  their  face  value  ?  The  old 
adage  may  be  paraphrased,  **  No  young  man 
is  a  hero  to  his  younger  brother."  It  is  the 
tragedy  of  familiarity.  This  younger  brother 
of  Jesus  is  not  among  the  apostles  until  after 
the  resurrection.  Not  until  then  does  James 
see  in  Jesus'  face  the  glory  of  the  eternal 
Not  until  observation  ceases  does  reflection 
well  begin. 

How  many  years  James  had  lived  under 
the  same  roof  with  Jesus,  how  many  years  he 


PUEE  EELIGION  37 

had  wrought  at  the  same  bench  with  Him, 
we  do  not  know,  perhaps  a  score.  At  any 
rate  he  must  have  known  Jesus  as  none  of 
the  disciples  did.  And  he  must  have  brought 
into  his  apostleship  at  last  a  power  to  view 
things  as  Jesus  viewed  them.  Unconsciously 
he  would  echo  his  immortal  Brother's  ideas 
and  opinions. 

Let  us  see  what  James  says  about  religion. 
Let  us  see  whether  it  agrees  with  what  Jesus 
says  about  it.  James  says  religion  is  benev- 
olence and  purity.  That  is  the  substance  of 
the  text.  Jesus  says  religion  is  knowledge. 
That  is  the  substance  of  His  words,  **  This  is 
life  eternal,  to  know  Thee,  the  only  true  God, 
and  Jesus  Christ  whom  Thou  hast  sent."  Is 
there  not  a  disparity  of  view  here  between 
the  brothers?  Not  at  all.  James  is  think- 
ing of  religion  in  its  outward  expression. 
Jesus  is  thinking  of  religion  in  its  interior 
motive. 

/  Acts  must  have  motives.  Results  must 
have  causes.  We  cannot  produce  a  poem 
by  the  explosion  of  a  type  foundry !  No 
*' fortuitous  combination  of  atoms"  is  suffi- 
cient to  account  for  a  statue  or  a  picture,  a 
watch  or  a  flower,  a  crystal  or  a  cell.     Be- 


38  CHAPEL  TALKS 

nevolence  and  purity — James'  religion — must 
have  an  adequate  motive.  Jesus  furnishes 
it.  So  the  two  definitions  are  not  contradic- 
tory, but  complemental,  one  to  the  other. 

With  James'  definition  we  are  now  dealing. 
"  Pure "  religion, — that  is  vital  religion,  as 
distinguished  from  formal  reUgion  ;  *'  unde- 
filed"  religion, — that  is,  true  religion,  unmodi- 
fied by  human  interpretations  ;  unspoiled  by 
clumsy  though  honest  efforts  to  explain  it ; 
unimposed  religion,  is  this :  to  visit  the  fa- 
therless and  widows  in  their  affliction.  '*  Fa- 
therless" and  "widows"  are  representative 
terms :  they  were  the  neediest  people  James 
could  think  of,  the  ones  most  easily,  and  in 
his  age  most  commonly,  wronged.  With  us, 
the  words  stand  for  all  the  needy, — the  de- 
ficient, the  delinquent,  the  defective.  **To 
visit"  them  means  to  minister  to  them,  to 
protect  them,  to  avenge  their  wrongs,  to  vin- 
dicate and  safeguard  their  rights. 

In  simple  forms  of  society,  benevolence  is, 
and  must  be,  largely  personal.  In  complex 
society  it  is,  and  must  be,  largely  social,  cor- 
porate, communal.  He  must  be  blind  indeed 
who  does  not  see  how,  in  our  day,  the  relig- 
ious motive  finds  its  expression  in  economic 


PUEE  EELIGION  39 

and  remedial  legislation ;  how  it  works  in 
channels  of  moral  reform,  through  education, 
through  sanitation,  through  the  slow  but  sure 
uplift  of  the  race,  through  improved  indus- 
trial conditions,  through  multiplied  agencies 
of  mercy  and  help.  Surely  all  who  labour 
to  secure  pensions  for  indigent  old  age,  and 
disability  insurance  for  wage-earners ;  all 
who  seek  to  stamp  out  preventable  disease ; 
all  who  are  endeavouring  to  raise  the  age  of 
consent  in  states  where  it  is  yet  shamefully 
low  ;  all  who  are  fighting  to  set  children  free 
from  labour  in  cotton-mills  and  coal-break- 
ers ;  all  who  are  bringing  the  paradise  of 
shaded  playgrounds  into  the  inferno  of  city 
slums, — surely  the  strictest  literalist  will 
agree,  all  these  are,  in  a  very  orthodox  sense, 
visiting  the  fatherless  and  widows  in  their 
affliction. 

I  know  how  dry  and  juiceless  are  statistics. 
But  here  are  some  eloquent  figures :  results 
of  a  very  recent  study,  involving  1,012  per- 
sons, indicate  that  seventy-one  per  cent,  of 
general  social  workers,  eighty-eight  per  cent, 
of  social  settlement  workers,  and  ninety-two 
per  cent,  of  Associated  or  United  Charity 
workers,  are  church  members.     Think  of  it, 


40  CHAPEL  TALKS 

critics  and  "  hecklers "  of  the  church,  only 
about  thirty  per  cent,  of  the  people  are  church 
members,  yet  this  one-third  of  our  popula- 
tion furnishes  eighty-three  per  cent,  of  those 
whose  vocation  is  to  heal  the  open  sores  and 
ripen  the  rawness  of  society  1  What  more 
convincing  evidence  of  the  relation  between 
the  religious  motive  and  the  philanthropic 
movements  of  our  age  ? 

But  there  is  another  part  of  this  text, 
another  phase  of  religion  according  to  James, 
which  interests  us  more  particularly  at  this 
time, — "to  keep  one's  self  unspotted  from 
the  world."  This  reminds  us  of  Jesus'  beati- 
tude, **  Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart."  It 
takes  us  back  to  the  Psalmist  who  sang, 
**  He  that  hath  clean  hands  and  a  pure  heart 
.  .  .  shall  ascend  unto  the  hill  of  the 
Lord,"  and  to  Isaiah,  who  declared,  **  He  that 
walketh  uprightly  and  speaketh  righteously, 
who  despiseth  the  gain  of  oppressions,  and 
shaketh  his  hands  from  holding  of  bribes ; 
who  shutteth  his  eyes  from  seeing  evil  and 
stoppeth  his  ears  from  hearing  (of)  blood, — 
he  shall  dwell  on  high."  If  any  of  us  are 
ever  tempted  to  think  of  Judaism  as  a  mere 
provincial   cult,  let  us  read  the  thirty-third 


PUEE  EELIGION  41 

chapter  of  Isaiah  or  the  fifteenth  or  twenty- 
fourth  Psalm. 

James'  word  to  denote  purity  is  a  very 
graphic  one.  It  suggests  the  law  of  sacrifice 
which  accepted  only  unblemished  animals. 
It  suggests  Paul's  picture  of  the  perfect 
church,  which  is  described  as  *'not  having 
spot  or  wrinkle  or  any  such  thing."  It  re- 
calls the  burning  indignation  of  Jude — per- 
haps another  brother  of  Jesus — who  describes 
certain  corrupt  persons  who  had  crept  into 
the  Church,  even  in  that  early  age,  as  **  spots 
in  their  feasts  of  charity."  Spots,  stains, 
blemishes, — what  do  these  words  describe? 
Souls  which  have  suffered  deterioration  by 
contact  with  sin  ;  lives  that  sin  has  scarred ; 
hearts  that  have  not  learned  to  shed  the  evil 
influences  which  would  drench  us. 

It  is  one  of  the  saddest  thoughts  that  can 
come  to  us,  how  soon  an  innocent  child  may 
learn  the  vocabulary  of  vice.  It  comforted 
James  Russell  Lowell,  on  the  death  of  his 
first-born,  that  the  boy  "  needed  not  to  pause 
and  cleanse  his  feet  to  stand  before  his 
God."  He  was  a  man  of  rich  mental  endow- 
ment (Hartley  Coleridge)  who  wrote  in  his 
Bible : 


42  CHAPEL  TALE:S 

*'  When  I  received  this  volume  small, 
My  years  were  barely  seventeen, 
When  it  was  hoped  1  should  be  all 
Which  once,  alas  !  I  might  have  been  ! 
And  now  my  years  are  thirty-five. 
And  every  mother  hopes  her  lamb — 
And  every  happy  child  alive 
May  never  be  what  now  1  am  !  " 

Another  man,  more  brilliant  and  more  fa- 
mous than  Coleridge,  was  deeply  conscious 
of  defilement  from  the  world  when  he  wrote 
his  soul's  confession : 

"  Through  life's  paths  so  dim  and  dirty 
I  have  come  to  three  and  thirty ; 
What  have  these  years  brought  to  me  ? 
Nothing  except  thirty-three  !  " 

On  his  thirty-sixth  birthday  the  retrospect 
was  still  unrelieved  by  a  single  thought  of 
goodness,  the  prospect  still  without  a  redeem- 
ing hope : 

**  My  days  are  in  the  sere  and  yellow  leaf; 
The  flower  and  fruit  of  life  are  gone  : 
The  worm,  the  canker  and  the  grief 
Are  mine  alone. ' ' 

Something  indeed  must  be  allowed  for  the 
poetic  temperament,  which  in  excess  of  self- 
abasement  has  been  known  to  exaggerate  its 
own   guilt.     (I   know  of  a   gentle   child   of 


PUEE  EELIGION  43 

twelve,  who  once  confessed  she  had  broken 
all  the  commandments,  committed  all  the 
crimes  in  the  calendar,  including  the  unpar- 
donable sin.  But  it  was  merely  an  acute 
case  of  "  ingrowing  conscience.") 

The  cases  cited,  however,  are  not  such. 
Neither  are  they  instances  of  that  conviction 
of  sin,  that  sense  of  unworth  which  drives  us 
to  God.  They  are,  rather,  souls  face  to  face 
with  themselves  in  the  dark ;  they  illustrate 
the  meaning  of  Thackeray's  words,  *'  the  hell 
of  the  consciousness  of  moral  incomplete- 
ness," or  that  equally  striking  phrase  of 
Dickens,  **  the  leprosy  of  unreality."  It  is 
the  tragedy  of  tragedies, — grief  that  takes 
the  joy  out  of  the  heart  and  the  light  out  of 
the  skies. 

If  Christianity  did  nothing  more,  its  divine 
origin  were  well-authenticated  by  its  demand 
upon  us  for  purity  of  heart.  It  is  about  the 
only  thing  that  does  demand  it.  Society 
does  not ;  fashion  does  not ;  learned  societies 
do  not, — the  world  "  looketh  on  the  outward 
appearance,"  but  God  sees  beneath  the  sur- 
face, beneath  that  beauty  which  is  only  **  seal- 
skin-deep," beneath  the  silken  veil,  the 
ermined   robe,  knocks  at  the  door  of  every 


44  CHAPEL  TALKS 

chamber  of  reflection  and  desire  and  im- 
agery, and  inquires,  **  Is  thy  heart  right?" 

It  was  one  who  knew  what  depths  of  cor- 
ruption may  lie  beneath  fair  exteriors  who 
asked : 

*'  Ah,  what  avails  to  understand 
The  merits  of  a  spotless  shirt, 
A  dapper  boot,  a  slender  hand, 
If  half  the  little  soul  be  dirt  ?  " 

Soiled  souls  I  Ah,  if  we  were  half  as  scrupu- 
lous about  clean  hearts  as  we  are  about  clean 
linen  1  In  some  respects  the  world  is  very 
like  a  scullery.  He  must  have  thought  so 
who  wrote  that  strange  verse  in  one  of  our 
psalms  :  **  Though  ye  have  dwelt  among  the 
pots,  yet  shall  ye  be  as  the  wings  of  a  dove 
covered  with  silver  and  her  feathers  with 
shining  gold."  There  are  ways  of  keeping 
one's  self  unspotted  from  the  world. 

Certain  species  of  birds  are  provided  with 
tiny  oil  glands  in  the  skin,  which  keep  their 
feathers  covered  with  an  invisible  oil.  Soot 
will  not  stick  to  them.  They  have  an  invisi- 
ble armour.  There  are  insects  which  dwell 
in  the  mud  at  the  bottom  of  roadside  pools, 
yet  remain  as  bright  as  burnished  brass. 
They  are  provided  with  suction  glands  wbich 


PURE  EELIGION  45 

interpose  a  stratum  of  dry  air  between  them 
and  the  world  about  them.  Air  is  their 
armour.  Is  it  possible  that  creatures  of  this 
sort  are  protected  against  contamination  and 
we  left  helpless  against  our  enemies  ?  Is  the 
soul  of  man  left  unguarded  against  the  forces 
that  mar  its  beauty  ?  Do  not  believe  it  1  The 
God  of  nature  is  the  God  of  grace.  He  de- 
mands holiness.  Holiness  is  only  another 
name  for  unspottedness.  He  does  not  re- 
quire the  impossible.  Christianity  offers  us 
the  means  by  which  we  may  preserve  our 
souls'  integrity.  We  may  keep  ourselves 
unspotted  from  the  world. 

The  world  is  a  capacious  term.  It  includes 
all  that  may  deface  and  defile  the  soul ; 
gross  passions  that  beset  youth's  imperious 
years  ;  appetites  that  clamour  at  the  gates  of 
manhood  ;  tempers  and  habits  that  mar  the 
soul's  serenity  ;  propensities  which,  if  they 
were  personified,  might  take  the  form  of 
serpent  or  ape  or  peacock  or  swine  or  tiger. 

Look  with  a  philosopher's  eyes  upon  a 
human  crowd.  Scan  the  faces.  Greed  and 
malice ;  petulance  and  insincerity ;  vanity 
and  self-indulgence ;  sloth  and  selfishness ; 
unjust  severity  and  impatience  of  restraint, — 


46  CHAPEL  TALKS 

all  are  there  !  Hard  faces,  faces  that  have 
a  terrible  **  northwest  exposure,"  sad  faces, 
hopeless  faces,  shallow  faces,  bad  faces  1 
Thank  Heaven,  not  all,  but  so  many !  Be- 
cause there  are  so  many  things  that  hurt  the 
soul,  and  are  reflected  in  the  face  and  through 
the  eyes,  those  windows  of  the  soul  I  (The 
human  countenance  is  not  transparent,  but  it 
is  translucent — like  a  vase  of  alabaster.) 

What  is  the  cure  for  soul-stains?  What 
the  defense  ?  Wherein  lies  the  secret  of  the 
radiant  spirit,  the  ** solar  look"  in  the  faces 
of  those  who  wear  the  white  badge  of  blame- 
less living  ?  It  is  fourfold  : — an  act,  an  atti- 
tude, an  exercise,  an  atmosphere. 

The  act  is  that  of  self-surrender,  by  which 
we  deliberately  adopt  God's  plan  for  us.  It 
is  an  act  of  the  will. 

*^Our  wills  are  ours,  we  know  not  how, 
Our  wills  are  ours  to  make  them  Thine." 

It  is  in  our  wills  there  resides  the  treaty- 
making  power  of  the  soul.  And  the  act  by 
which  we  ally  ourselves  with  God,  call  it  con- 
secration, call  it  self-surrender,  call  it  "the 
great  acceptance,"  call  it  "  the  soul's  leap  to 
God,"  is,   in   itself,  a  tie  both   strong  and 


PUKE  KELIGION  47 

tender,  binding-  us  to  ''self-reverence,  self- 
knowledge,  self-control"  which  lead  alone  to 
purity  and  power. 

The  attitude  which  helps  to  keep  us  un- 
spotted from  the  world  is  a  logical  and  in- 
evitable sequence  of  that  act.  When  we 
accept  God — our  fathers'  God — as  our  God 
and  Guide,  w^e  take  our  places  at  the  side  of 
**  that  Man  whom  He  hath  ordained  "  to  be  our 
Saviour, — Jesus  Christ.  Standing  at  His  side, 
we  see  things  as  He  saw  them,  this  world  as 
God's  world,  and  all  world-processes  as  di- 
rected by  Him,  and  ultimately  to  Him. 

Such  an  attitude  is  the  only  permanent 
cure  for  pessimism.  Only  a  hopeful  spirit  re- 
mains unspotted  from  the  world.  Only  such 
a  spirit  can  say,  as  says  the  Hoosier  poet : 

**  God's  hand's  on  the  helm, 
God's  breath's  in  the  sail !  " 

Or  as  sang  the  blind  Scotch  poet  and  preacher: 

*'0  Cross  that  liftest  up  my  head, 
I  dare  not  ask  to  fly  from  Thee  ! 
I  lay  in  dust  life's  glory  dead, 
And  fiom  the  ground  there  blossoms  red 
Life  that  shall  endless  be  !  " 

The  saving  exercise  is  Prayer.  Put  it 
down  among  the   axioms   of  life,  that  the 


48  CHAPEL  TALKS 

highest  blessedness  is  the  result  of  the  ac- 
tivity of  our  highest  faculties.  And  never 
does  earth  rise  so  high  or  heaven  bend  so 
low  as  when  we  pray.  Have  you  seen  the 
sunrise  transfigure  a  mountain  ?  Well,  there 
are  things  that  transfigure  life.  Love  does. 
Pride  does.  Hope  does.  But  nothing  so 
transfigures  life  as  prayer. 

"  We  kneel  how  weak,  we  rise  how  full  of  power  !  " 

The  mayor  of  an  American  city,  who  dis- 
tinguished himself  and  his  administration  by 
high  ideals  and  efficiency  in  the  conduct  of 
public  affairs,  was  asked  by  a  reporter  how 
he  was  able  to  resist  so  heroically  the  temp- 
tations to  which  he  was  exposed.  He  did 
not  hesitate  long  to  reply.  Then  his  voice 
grew  soft  as  he  said,  *'I  pray."  Michel- 
angelo, painter,  poet,  sculptor,  architect,  once 
declared,  "  I  put  not  hand  to  anything  till  I 
have  steeped  my  inmost  soul  in  prayer!" 
To  steep  one's  soul  in  prayer.  This  forges 
an  invulnerable  armour.  This  erects  an  in- 
vincible barrier.  Thrice  was  Charles  Kings- 
ley  armed, — that  prophet  of  social  progress 
in  modern  England,  whose  voice  with  that 
of  Maurice  and  that  of  Robertson  heralded 


PUEE  EELIGlOlsr  40 

the  dawn  of  a  worthier  conception  of  God's 
Kingdom, — thrice  was  he  armed,  when  at 
his  altar  he  cried,  "O  Divine  Justice,  make 
me  just  1  Divine  Mercy,  make  me  merciful ! 
Divine  Purity,  make  me  pure  ! '' 

Lastly,  there  is  an  atmosphere  that  helps 
to  keep  the  heart  pure  and  the  hands  clean. 
It  is  the  atmosphere  created  by  the  presence 
with  us  of  a  divine  Comrade.  There  was  a 
German  poet  who  liked  to  speak  of  Jesus 
Christ  as  "the  Great  Companion."  And  He 
is  that.  Powerful  personalities  radiate  an  at- 
mosphere. His  biographer  says  of  Henry 
Drummond,  "When  he  entered  the  room, 
the  moral  temperature  perceptibly  rose." 

There  are  thoughts  we  do  not  think  when 
Christ's  presence  is  spiritually  discerned. 
Who  would  meditate  evil  with  the  bread  and 
wine  of  the  Holy  Communion  before  him  ? 
There  are  imaginations  which  take  their  flight 
at  the  very  mention  of  Christ's  name. 

*'  One  look  at  that  pale  suffering  Face 
Will  make  us  feel  the  deep  disgrace 

Of  weakness : 
We  shall  be  sifted  till  the  strength 
Of  self-conceit  is  changed  at  length 

To  meekness !  " 


50  CHAPEL  TALKS 

Do  we — dare  we — indulge  sordid  or  ungentle 
thoughts  when  He  is  near  ?  Then  let  us  ever 
keep  Him  near !  For  He  is  able  to  keep  us 
from  falling,  to  keep  us  unspotted  from  the 
world,  and  to  present  us  blameless — if  not 
faultless — before  His  presence  with  exceed- 
ing joy. 


IV 

Old  Passions  Turned  to  New  Uses 

*•  So  when  they  had  dinedy  Jesus  saith  to 
Simon  Peter ,  *  Simon,  son  of  Jonas,  lovest  thou 
Me  more  than  these  ?  *  He  saith  unto  Him, 
'  Tea,  Lord  ;  Thou  know  est  that  I  love  Thee,* 
Hi  saith  unto  him,  '  Feed  My  lambs,* " 

— John  xxi.  75. 

JUST  what  did  Jesus  mean  when  He 
asked  Peter,  "Lovest  thou  Me  more 
than  these?"  Who  are  "these"? 
What  are  they  ?  There  are  two  possible  in- 
terpretations of  the  words  in  question.  First, 
in  view  of  Peter's  desire  for  preeminence,  ex- 
cellent illustration  of  which  we  have  in  the 
chapter  from  which  the  text  is  taken,  it  is 
possible  that  Jesus  meant,  "  Lovest  thou  Me 
more  than  these  other  disciples  love  Me  ? " 
Peter  was  very  impulsive,  very  spectacular. 
Once  he  had  said,  "  Though  all  men  forsake 
Thee,  yet  will  I  not  forsake  Thee."  It  was  a 
generous,  loyal  thing  to  say,  but  it  was  boast- 
ful. It  was  indirectly  a  reflection  upon  the 
loyalty  of  others.  Peter  would  be  distin- 
51 


52  CHAPEL  TALKS 

guished.  He  fairly  aches  for  distinction. 
Perhaps  Jesus,  taking  him  at  his  own  word, 
at  his  own  estimate  of  himself,  meant  to  say, 
"  He  that  would  be  preeminent  in  My  disci- 
pleship  must  be  preeminent  in  devotion  to 
Me  ;  and  he  who  would  be  preeminent  in  de- 
votion to  Me  must  give  himself  preeminently 
to  shepherdly  service." 

But  the  other  possible  interpretation  of 
these  words  is  based  upon  the  fact  that  Peter 
had  been  a  fisherman  by  profession  before  he 
began  to  follow  Jesus ;  and  after  the  Cruci- 
fixion Peter  had  gone  back  to  his  old  calling. 
There  is  no  occupation  which,  once  followed, 
has  a  stronger  fascination  for  those  who  have 
engaged  in  it  than  gathering  the  harvest  of 
the  sea.  Here  is  the  inveterate  fisherman, 
who  left  for  a  season  his  nets  and  boats  in 
order  that  he  might  sit  under  the  instruction 
of  a  great  Teacher, — and  now  he  has  returned 
to  the  sea.  Here  are  the  implements  of  his 
calling.  The  nets  need  repairs.  The  boats 
need  caulking.  The  sails  need  patching.  If 
Peter  was  the  man  we  think  he  was,  he  loved 
his  old-time  occupation,  loved  the  tools  of  his 
trade.  (How  we  do  become  attached  to  a 
skiff,  a  canoe  or  a  sailboat  1     How  a  fisher- 


OLD  PASSIONS  TUENED  TO  NEW  USES  53 

man  grows  fond  of  his  rods  and  reels  I)  Peter 
was  about  to  return  to  his  old-time  vocation. 
Jesus  had  other  plans  for  him.  He  would 
complete  the  process  of  preparation  which 
began  three  years  before  when  He  had  said 
to  the  fisherman  of  Galilee,  **  Follow  Me  and 
I  will  teach  you  to  take  men  alive."  Is  it  not 
possible  then  that  Jesus  referred  to  Peter's 
property, — perhaps  his  only  property, — his 
boats  and  nets,  when  He  said,  '*  Lovest  thou 
Me  more  than  these  ?  " 

These  are  the  two  possible  interpretations 
of  this  clause  of  the  text.  Either  is  tenable. 
Whether  we  adopt  one  or  the  other  is  imma- 
terial and  irrelevant  to  the  purpose  of  this 
study.  Certain  it  is  that  if  Peter  had  any 
lingering  love  for  the  profession  he  had  loved, 
after  this  interview  that  love  did  not  exist; 
or  rather,  it  did  exist  but  was  transformed 
into  a  passion  for  souls.  Peter  became  a 
fisher  of  men.  We  may  not  say  that  one 
love  had  cast  out  the  other,  but  the  old  love 
for  fishing  found  new  expression.  All  the 
patience,  all  the  cunning,  all  the  adroitness, 
all  the  beautiful  adventure  of  fishing,  attach 
to  the  new  career  as  an  apostle  of  the  Saving 
Faith. 


54  CHAPEL  TALKS 

Whichever  of  these  two  interpretations  we 
adopt ;  whether  Jesus  referred  to  Peter's  pas- 
sion for  preeminence,  or  to  his  passion  for 
fishing,  Jesus'  treatment  of  Peter  illustrates 
His  method  of  transforming  life ;  He  trans- 
figures old  affections  by  setting  them  upon 
new  objects  and  by  directing  them  in  new 
channels. 

It  was  so  with  Matthew.  Matthew  was  an 
internal  revenue  collector,  an  excise  commis- 
sioner, a  customs  officer.  He  was  a  book- 
keeper, an  accountant,  a  business  man.  He 
had  a  passion  for  accuracy,  a  genius  for  de- 
tail. One  day  Jesus  came  by,  saw  him,  read 
him,  and  said,  "  Follow  Me."  Matthew  fol- 
lows. He  is  not  disobedient  to  the  heavenly 
vision.  It  is  Matthew's  one  great  chance, 
and  he  takes  it.  His  act  illustrates  what  John 
Hutton  calls  *'  the  soul's  leap  to  God."  Mat- 
thew does  not  cease  to  be  the  bookkeeper, 
the  accountant,  the  accurate  recorder.  All 
that  special  fitness  for  writing  a  biography  of 
Jesus  he  carries  with  him  over  from  the  cus- 
toms office  into  his  ministry.  The  passion 
of  Matthew's  life  does  not  subside,  but  is 
turned  to  new  uses. 

Then  there  was  Saul  of  Tarsus,  a  Bourbon 


OLD  PASSIONS  TUENED  TO  NEW  USES  55 

of  the  Bourbons,  worshipper  of  tradition,  nar- 
rowest of  the  narrow,  theological  hair-splitter, 
keen-scented  heresy-hunter,  zealous,  very ; 
passionate,  very.  Saul  has  a  vision  at  mid- 
day. Stung  by  the  splendour  of  the  sight 
his  eyes  behold,  he  is  transformed  into  such 
an  one  as  Paul,  the  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles, 
Paul,  the  bond-slave  of  Jesus  Christ.  But 
has  Saul  lost  his  zeal,  his  fervour,  his  fiery 
ardour?  Oh,  no.  All  the  faculties  and  ca- 
pacities he  has  exercised  as  a  Pharisee  he  now 
exercises  as  a  Christian,  but  the  passion  of 
his  life  fixes  upon  a  new  object.  Now  he 
glories  only  in  the  Cross.  The  old  enthusi- 
asm has  a  new  object. 

I  have  said  this  is  Christ's  method  of  sal- 
vation. It  is  not  the  method  of  Buddha. 
The  Buddhist's  dream  of  salvation  is  by  the 
ultimate  extinction  of  desire.  Jesus'  plan  is 
by  the  transformation  of  desire. 

Human  history  is  rich  with  instances  of 
the  redemption  of  lives  from  evil  by  the 
transfer  of  zeal  from  one. object  to  another. 
John  Hunter  tells  of  a  distinguished  man 
who  confessed  that  in  early  manhood  he  had 
found  deliverance  from  a  guilty  passion 
through  a  devoted  attachment  to  a  branch  of 


56  CHAPEL  TALKS 

science.     The  love  of  knowledge  cured  him 
of  the  love  of  pleasure. 

Harold  Begbie's  book,  **  Twice  Born  Men,'* 
deserves  to  be  very  widely  read.  Harold  Beg- 
bie  was  a  newspaper  man  in  England  who 
undertook  to  write  up,  as  a  matter  of  profes- 
sional journalism,  the  life  histories  of  a  num- 
ber of  men  and  women  in  a  certain  section 
of  London,  in  which  the  Salvation  Army  was 
particularly  active.  It  was  the  pottery  dis- 
trict, a  most  unattractive  neighbourhood. 
The  unoccupied  lots  and  the  back  yards  of 
the  houses  were  adorned  with  broken  pot- 
tery. Mr.  Begbie  wrote  a  brief  description 
of  a  dozen  or  more  men  and  women  of  this 
section  whose  lives  had  been  transformed 
under  the  inspiration  of  Salvation  Army  mis- 
sionaries. The  book  was  published  in  Eng- 
land under  the  title,  *'  Broken  Earthenware." 
Every  one  of  these  people  had  been  a  wreck. 
They  were  in  society's  slag-heap.  Every 
one  of  them  rose  to  walk  in  newness  of  life. 
It  is  a  most  fascinating  story.  The  author 
published  it  as  a  foot-note  to  Professor  Will- 
iam James'  book  on  "  Varieties  of  Religious 
Experience."  Professor  James  read  Harold 
Begbie' s  book  and  generously  said  he  would 


OLD  PASSIONS  TUEKED  TO  NEW  USES  57 

be  perfectly  willing  to  regard  his  book  as  a 
foot-note  of  Harold  Begbie's.  In  one  of  his 
chapters  Mr.  Begbie  says  a  starding  thing. 
It  may  not  appear  to  be  invariably  true,  but 
that  it  is  true  in  many  cases  there  can  be  no 
doubt.  This  is  the  saying :  **  The  best  cure 
for  dipsomania  is  religious  mania."  The 
words,  "  religious  mania,"  are  ill  chosen.  It 
is  a  pity  to  give  a  good  thing  a  bad  name. 
What  the  saying  amounts  to  is  this,  that  one 
who  has  had  a  passion  for  drink,  and  who 
attempts  to  reform,  needs  to  acquire  a  still 
stronger  passion  for  sobriety;  he  needs  to 
become  a  temperance  reformer.  The  zeal  of 
the  reformer  will  help  to  keep  him  true  to  his 
own  vows.  This  saying  of  Harold  Begbie's 
throws  a  new  light  on  a  saying  of  Professor 
Seeley's :  **  No  heart  is  pure  that  is  not  pas- 
sionate ;  no  virtue  is  safe  that  is  not  enthusi- 
astic." 

John  B.  Gough  and  Jerry  McAuley  both 
found  it  so.  Jerry  McAuley  was  a  lost  man 
if  ever  a  man  was  lost  on  earth ;  thief,  **  pan- 
handler," bully,  sot.  He  found  redemption 
in  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  but  the  efficiency 
of  that  redemption  to  keep  him  a  saved 
man  lay  in  the  opportunity  he  found  to  be- 


68  CHAPEL  TALKS 

come  a  saviour  of  other  men.  He  had  no 
time  to  backslide  after  he  began  his  career 
as  a  missionary  to  the  hopeless  and  the 
homeless  such  as  he  had  once  been.  He 
and  John  B.  Gough  and  all  such  men  have 
kept  their  hearts  pure  by  keeping  them  open 
to  the  inflow  of  a  divinely-sent,  a  divinely- 
sustained  passion.  They  heard  the  Master 
say,  **  Feed  My  sheep,"  and  went  out  in  a 
lifelong  search  for  the  lost  sheep,  the  lame 
sheep,  the  black  sheep  of  the  Father's  flock. 
John  Bunyan  was  a  coarse,  profane  and  dis- 
solute youth.  When  he  became  a  Christian, 
his  safety  depended  not  only  upon  his  believ- 
ing in  Christ  but  upon  his  preaching  Christ. 
He  maintained  his  virtue  by  its  enthusiastic 
practice. 

Two  great  missionary  leaders  of  the  Chris- 
tian church  illustrate  this  same  fact  of  salva- 
tion by  transformation  of  desire.  Ignatius 
Loyola  and  Raymond  Lull  were  both  men 
of  pleasure,  courtiers,  knightly,  chivalrous. 
They  loved  sport,  the  society  of  the  gay  and 
rich.  They  were  exquisite  **  man-milliners,'* 
dilettanti,  worshippers  of  trifles,  yet  soldierly 
and  brave  withal.  All  that  old-time  devo- 
tion  to   the    pursuit   of    pleasure,  all    their 


OLD  PASSIONS  TUENBD  TO  NEW  USES  59 

former  zeal  and  passion  for  display,  and  con- 
quest of  feminine  hearts,  all  their  love  for  the 
world  and  the  lusts  thereof,  was  transfigured 
by  the  Spirit  of  God,  by  the  sight  of  Christ 
and  His  Cross.     They  kept  their  hearts  pure 
by    keeping    them    passionately    set    upon 
Christ.     They  preserved  their  virtue  by  its 
very  enthusiasm.     I  think  now  of  a  senti- 
ment I  once  read  from  some  old  French  phi- 
losopher.    He  said,  '*  O  young  men,  fill  your 
hearts  with  generous  enthusiasms  in  youth, 
for  we  lose  so  many  of  them  as  we  grow 
old."     Loyola  and  Lull  lost  none  of  their  en- 
thusiasm, and  the  martyrdom  of  Raymond 
Lull,  the  six  hundredth  anniversary  of  which 
we  have  just  commemorated,  occurred  when 
he  was   an  old  man,  his  heart  still  aflame 
with   the   desire  to  reach  the  heart  of  the 
Moslem  world. 

Stuart  Holden  of  London  tells  of  a  boy 
who  went  up  from  Harrow  to  Cambridge  and 
filled  his  apartments  with  luxurious  furnish- 
ings. The  son  of  wealthy  parents,  he  in- 
dulged his  propensity  for  fine  surroundings. 
He  covered  the  walls  of  his  rooms  with  gaudy 
pictures — race-horses  and  jockeys,  actresses 
and  chorus  girls.     One  day  that  youth  met 


60  CHAPEL  TALKS 

another  man,  came  to  know  him  and  to  love 
him.  Most  people  who  met  that  man  did 
love  him.  He  too  was  a  university  man,  who 
had  turned  aside  from  a  career  that  promised 
great  distinction  to  devote  himself  to  the 
welfare  of  London's  poor.  No  man  of  the 
last  generation  has  had  a  greater  influence 
over  the  university  men  of  Great  Britain  than 
Quentin  Hogg.  The  whole  social  settlement 
movement  owes  much  of  its  inspiration  to 
him.  One  day  this  youth  at  Cambridge 
asked  Quentin  Hogg  for  his  picture,  and 
there  came  a  time  when  the  picture  arrived, 
autographed  with  a  friendly  inscription.  The 
young  man  had  it  framed  and  hung  it  up. 
Then  he  looked  at  the  other  pictures  and 
somehow  they  seemed  out  of  place.  One  by 
one  they  came  down  until  only  Quentin 
Hogg's  picture  remained  on  the  wall.  When 
other  pictures  took  their  places  they  were  of 
a  different  kind.  The  transformation  had 
been  wrought  silently  but  effectively  by  the 
creation  of  a  new  ideal,  by  the  transfer  of  a 
selfish  passion  to  unselfish  ends. 

It  is  a  great  problem  with  some  young 
people  what  books  to  buy  for  their  libraries. 
We  waste  a  lot  of  good  money  buying  indif- 


OLD  PASSIONS  TURNED  TO  NEW  USES  61 

ferent  books.  Sometimes  we  squander  it  by 
buying  books  it  were  better  not  to  read, 
books  that  cast  a  dimness  over  the  pure 
mirror  of  the  conscience,  books  that  paralyze 
faith  and  encourage  false  freedom  of  thought 
and  behaviour.  Perhaps  the  best  way  to 
weed  out  a  library  is  to  put  one  really  great 
and  good  book  into  it.  That  book  will  make 
the  rest  of  the  books  look  cheap  and  poor. 

Life  is  governed  by  the  law  of  love.  What 
we  are  depends  upon  what  we  care  for. 
"  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all 
thy  heart  .  .  .  and  thy  neighbour  as 
thyself."  "  Love  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law." 
"  He  that  loveth  is  born  of  God."  "  God  is 
love."  He  who  loves  God  with  all  his  heart 
will  not  be  an  indifferent  Christian.  He  who 
loves  his  neighbour  as  himself  will  be  a  good 
neighbour,  a  friend  to  the  friendless,  a  cheerer 
up  of  the  weary. 

Christianity  is  the  religion  of  a  Person. 
The  practice  of  Christianity  is  simply  the 
practice  of  the  love  that  flows  out  from  that 
Person  into  our  hearts,  and  back  from  our 
hearts  to  that  Person.  A  German  philoso- 
pher thus  defines  history  :  **  The  outflow  of 
events  from  God,  and  the  return  of  the  cycle 


62  CHAPEL  TALKS 

to  Him."  This  is  a  good  definition  of  Chris- 
tianity,— **  The  love  of  God  is  shed  abroad  in 
our  hearts  by  the  Holy  Spirit  who  is  given 
unto  us."  It  may  be  difficult  for  us  to  be- 
lieve in  God.  It  may  be  increasingly  diffi- 
cult, as  our  knowledge  of  physical  science 
increases,  for  us  to  believe  in  God.  But  we 
can  believe  in  Christ.  He  is  so  near  us.  He 
is  so  like  us ; — He  is  our  best  selves ;  He  is 
what  we  would  like  to  be.  And  it  is  easy  to 
love  Him.  What  this  love  will  do  for  us  in 
our  lives  is  suggested  by  some  lines  in  Tenny- 
son's description  of  the  Knights  of  the  Round 
Table : 

**  He  laid  on  us  the  deathless  passion  of  his 
eyes,  and  made  us  his  ; 
He  laid  his  mind  on  ours,  and  we  believed 
in  his  beliefs." 

The  beginning  of  the  love  of  Christ  is  like 
the  beginning  of  any  earthly  friendship.  Our 
hearts  go  out  to  Him  and  we  say  to  Him,  and 
He  hears,  **  O  Master,  let  me  walk  with  Thee." 
Walking  with  Him,  life  shifts  its  center  and 
enlarges  its  circumference,  and  in  the  end  of 
our  days  we  may  slip  out  of  our  bodies  whis- 
pering, as  poor  Joe  in  Dickens'  story,  "  It  is 
time  for  me  to  go  to  Him  who  loves  me." 


Life's  Vigilant  Angel,  Fear 

**  The  fear  of  the  Lord  is  the  beginning  of 
wisdom  ;  a  good  understanding  have  all  they  that 
do  His  commandments  :  His  praise  endure th 
for  ever. ''^ — Psalm  cxi.  lo. 

ONE  of  the  most  frequent  causes  of 
confusion  is  the  double  sense  of 
words.  An  example  of  this  is  in  the 
apparently  contradictory  advice  of  Scripture 
with  reference  to  burden-bearing.  We  read, 
"  Bear  ye  one  another's  burdens  and  so  fulfill 
the  law  of  Christ."  And  again  we  read, 
**  Every  man  must  bear  his  own  burden." 
And  still  again  we  have  the  invitation,  **  Cast 
thy  burden  upon  the  Lord."  Here  is  a  triple 
use  of  the  same  word.  It  is  not  the  same 
burden  in  every  case.  There  are  burdens  we 
can  help  one  another  bear.  There  is  a  bur- 
den each  of  us  must  bear  for  himself;  to 
avoid  or  evade  it  is  to  default  in  the  very 
cardinal  qualities  of  human  responsibility; 
63 


64  CHAPEL  TALKS 

and  there  is  a  burden  which  no  man  can  bear 
for  himself  nor  for  another, — God  alone  must 
bear  it.  It  is  the  burden  of  guilt,  which  Christ 
alone  can  relieve  us  of. 

Jesus  said,  "  Let  not  your  heart  be  troubled, 
neither  let  it  be  afraid."  Again  and  again 
He  said,  **  Fear  not,"  and  an  apostle  speaks 
of  the  perfect  love  that  casts  out  fear.  And 
yet  no  word  occurs,  more  frequently  in  the 
wisdom  literature  of  the  Old  Testament  in 
the  sense  of  a  virtue  than  this  same  word, 
fear.  In  this  sense  it  is  frequent  in  the 
Psalms.  Nor  is  it  absent  from  the  New 
Testament.  In  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews, 
we  are  exhorted  to  pray  for  grace  that  we 
may  serve  God  with  reverence  and  fear.  In 
this  text  fear  is  spoken  of  as  the  very  begin- 
ning of  wisdom.  There  can  be  no  true  wis- 
dom without  it.  But  it  is  the  reverent  fear  of 
God. 

It  may  be  useful  for  us  to  consider  the 
function  of  fear  in  life.  In  one  of  Mrs.  Alice 
Meynell's  most  beautiful  essays  she  speaks 
of  **  life's  diligent  angel,  labour ;  life's  inexo- 
rable angel,  pain  ;  life's  vigilant  angel,  fear." 
There  is  no  doubt  that  labour  is  an  angel. 
Oft-times  it  is  an  angel  in  disguise.     There  is 


LIFE'S  VIGILANT  ANGEL,  FEAE      65 

no  doubt  that  pain  is  an  angel,  and  always 
in  disguise.     One  of  our  poets  puts  it  thus : 

"Angel  of  Pain,  I  think  thy  face 
Will  be  11  all  that  heavenly  place 
The  sweetest  face  that  I  shall  see, 
The  swiftest  face  to  smile  on  me. 
Dear  patient  angel,  to  thine  own 
Thou  comest  and  art  never  known 
Till  late,  in  some  lone  twilight  place 
The  light  of  thy  transfigured  face 
Sudden  shines  out,  and  speechless,  they 
Know  they  have  walked  with  God  all  day." 

There  is  an  old  proverb,  **A  burnt  child 
dreads  the  fire."  A  child  learns  to  walk  by- 
many  a  hurt.  The  pain  of  sickness  is  benev- 
olent. Pain  is  not  a  disease  but  a  symptom 
of  disease.  If  it  were  not  for  the  symptom, 
we  might  never  know  the  existence  of  the 
disease  until  the  diseased  organ  is  destroyed. 
*•  Life's  vigilant  angel,  pain."  Pain  is  a  senti- 
nel. He  who  planned  these  wonderful  bodies 
of  ours  stationed  at  innumerable  outposts  a 
host,  an  army  of  faithful,  watchful,  sleepless 
sentinel  nerves.  And  yet  there  are  no  nerves 
of  pain.  There  are  nerves  of  sensation,  and 
the  selfsame  nerves  that  bring *us  pain  bring 
us  pleasure  as  well.  These  sentinel  soldiers 
vastly  amuse  and  please  us  at  times. 


66  CHAPEL  TALKS 

Now  in  the  realm  of  morals  fear  has  ex- 
actly the  same  office  that  pain  has  in  the 
realm  of  the  senses.  There  are  things  we 
ought  to  be  afraid  of,  and  must  be  afraid  of, 
if  we  would  keep  our  souls  from  harm.  What 
are  some  of  them?  Perhaps  they  are  all  in- 
cluded in  the  general  term,  evil.  If  you  will 
add  one  letter  to  "  evil "  you  make  it  *'  devil." 
A  witty  woman  in  Boston  a  number  of  years 
ago  wrote,  "  We  in  Boston  have  discovered 
that  there  is  no  devil,  but  somehow  or  other 
business  goes  on  as  usual  at  the  old  stand.'* 
Another  writer  has  said,  **  We  are  no  longer 
afraid  of  the  devil,  and  in  the  place  of  whole- 
some fear  of  the  evil  one  we  have  grown 
foolishly  afraid  of  germs ;  germs  are  our 
modern  devil."  Whether  we  regard  evil  as 
the  manifold  work  of  an  ubiquitous  malevo- 
lent personality,  or  whether  we  regard  it  im- 
personally, the  only  attitude  for  mcfral  beings 
to  assume  towards  it  is  that  of  wholesome 
fear. 

The  man  in  Browning's  poem,  who  pur- 
ports to  describe  the  conduct  of  Lazarus 
after  he  had  come  back  from  a  four  days' 
residence  in  the  spirit-world,  remarks  how 
Lazarus  was  troubled,  actually  terrified,  when 


LIFE'S  VIGILANT  ANGEL,  FEAB      67 

he  saw  on  the  faces  of  little  children  expres- 
sions indicative  of  certain  bad  propensities. 
Before  his  visit  to  the  spirit-world,  such 
things  had  only  mildly  disturbed  him,  if  at 
all,  but  now  he  saw  them  in  the  light  of 
eternity,  and  falsehood  and  impurity  seemed 
vastly  more  dreadful  than  they  had  ever 
seemed  before.  Perhaps  if  we  could  get  one 
glimpse  of  life  in  the  white  hght  of  eternity, 
there  are  a  thousand  things  we  now  regard 
with  tolerance,  even  if  we  do  not  sanction 
them,  that  we  should  loathe  with  unutterable 
loathing. 

The  finely  educated  ear  of  the  musician  is 
pained  by  discordant  sounds.  The  trained 
taste  of  the  artist  leads  him  to  wince  at  the 
mere  sight  of  ugliness.  Ah,  if  our  moral 
senses  were  but  as  acute  as  these,  how  we 
should  shrink  from  deceit,  from  duplicity, 
from  dissembling,  from  vulgarity,  from  irrev- 
erence, from  profartity,  from  moral  obliquity 
of  every  kind  I  And  how  we  should  pity 
with  immeasurable  sorrow  spiritual  poverty  I 

Paul  was  a  brave  man.  It  needs  no  argu- 
ment to  prove  that.  He  who  suffered  ship- 
wreck, confronted  mobs,  endured  hardness, 
fought  with  wild  beasts  at  Ephesus  and  defied 


68  CHAPEL  TALKS 

the  mandates  of  Caesar  was  no  coward,  but 
he  was  afraid,— always  afraid  lest  having 
saved  others,  he  himself  might  be  a  castaway. 

How  is  it  possible  for  one  of  noble  purpose 
such  as  Paul's,  and  of  indomitable  will,  to  be- 
come a  castaway?  It  is  possible.  Human 
history  attests  the  fact.  More  than  one  apos- 
tle has  made  shipwreck  of  faith.  More  than 
one  saint  has  fallen  away  and  put  his  Lord 
to  open  shame.  More  than  one  sincere  and 
useful  servant  of  God  has  fallen  from  his  high 
estate  of  fellowship  with  saints.  What  has 
happened  ?  How  has  the  defection  begun  ? 
In  one  or  other  of  three  ways. 

The  soul  has  three  inveterate  enemies.  No 
fire  can  consume  them  or  flood  drown  them. 
They  are  **  the  lust  of  the  eye,  the  lust  of  the 
flesh  and  the  pride  of  life."  Jesus'  three  temp- 
tations represent  the  things  that  work  havoc 
in  our  lives,  and  consequently  the  things  that 
we  must  learn  to  fear.  First  was  the  appeal 
to  appetite ;  second,  to  pride,  and  third  to 
the  desire  for  power.  What  salvation  is  there 
for  us  when  such  forces  assail  our  souls, — 
our  bodies  and  our  souls  ?  There  is  nothing 
better  than  fear,  a  wholesome  distrust  of  our- 
selves, a  consciousness  that  we  have  within 


LIFE'S  VIGILANT  ANGEL,  FEAE      69 

us  the  capacity  and  hence  the  liability  to  fall. 
"  Let  him  that  thinketh  he  standeth  take  heed 
lest  he  fall." 

How  shocking  it  is  to  hear,  as  we  do  now 
and  then,  of  the  ruin  of  a  reputation,  of  the 
discovery  of  secret  vices,  of  dishonour,  of  vio- 
lated trust  on  the  part  of  some  one  who  has 
stood  high  in  the  esteem  of  his  employers 
and  of  the  world.  Depend  upon  it,  the  fall 
was  not  a  sudden  one.  Litde  by  little  the 
fabric  of  that  manhood  had  been  weakened 
by  compromise ;  little  by  little  the  founda- 
tions of  that  character  had  been  undermined 
by  indulgence  ;  little  by  little  the  ideals  of 
that  life  had  deteriorated.  It  is  the  tragedy 
of  the  mountain  oak.  Long  years  ago  a 
pioneer,  in  blazing  his  path  over  the  moun- 
tain, chopped  from  that  tree  a  deeper  chip 
than  he  intended.  The  tree  was  wounded. 
With  sun  and  rain  and  melting  snow  and 
beaks  of  birds  and  squirrels'  teeth,  the  wound 
deepened  and  grew  until  the  process  of  de- 
cay reached  the  heart  of  the  oak.  Then  a 
storm  swept  over  the  mountain  and  the  giant 
fell.  A  timberman  looking  at  it  said,  "  That 
tree  had  a  bad  heart."  Well,  many  a  man  of 
fair  exterior  is  corrupt  at  heart.     Storms  of 


70  CHAPEL  TALKS 

passion  find  such  men  unable  to  stand.  A 
sudden  appeal  to  selfishness  or  to  covetousness 
or  to  avarice,  and  a  life  lies  low.  "  Keep  thy 
heart !  Keep  thy  heart,"  says  the  admonish- 
ing Word  ;  "  Keep  it  with  all  diUgence,  for 
out  of  it  are  the  issue  of  life."  Fear  the  first 
approach  of  evil.  Fear  the  first  shrewd  sug- 
gestion that  there  may  be  profit  in  wicked- 
ness. Fear  the  cunning  invitation  to  partici- 
pate in  the  pleasures  of  sin  for  a  season ;  your 
fear  will  save  you  from  immortal  loss. 

Again  and  again  the  love  of  a  worthy  ob- 
ject has  cured  a  heart  of  an  unworthy  love. 
Quite  as  often  fear  of  the  right  sort  has 
cured  a  heart  of  ignoble  fear.  "The  fear 
of  man  bringeth  a  snare,"  is  a  saying  of 
one  of  the  Hebrew  proverbial  philosophers. 
There  is  no  other  cure  for  servile  fear  of  man 
except  in  fear  of  God.  One  of  General 
**  Chinese  "  Gordon's  biographers  speaks  of 
him  as  having  come  to  a  supreme  disregard 
for  the  babbling  and  blatant  voices  that  we 
take  for  fame,  and  to  a  supreme  indifference 
to  praise.  It  was  exactly  that  quality  which 
made  him  the  hero  that  he  was.  But  it  was 
not  an  abstract  quality ;  it  was  the  fruit  in 
him  of  a  wholesome  fear  lest  he  dishonour 


LIFE'S  VIGILANT  ANGEL,  FEAE     71 

God  by  honouring  too  much  the  judgments 
of  men. 

Health  specialists  remind  us  that  we  should 
all  consult  our  physicians  frequently  and  be 
examined  as  to  our  physical  condition,  re- 
gardless of  our  feelings.  Unquestionably 
many  a  disease  which  has  its  beginning  in- 
sidiously might  be  conquered  if  attacked  in 
time.  Shall  we  take  such  exquisite  care  of 
our  bodies  and  take  no  care  of  our  souls  ? 
Shall  we  not  consult  frequently  the  Great 
Physician,  and  submit  ourselves  to  His  scru- 
tiny ?  His  spirit  searcheth  the  depths  of  our 
spirits,  and  in  His  light  the  beginnings  of 
evil  are  clearly  discerned.  Bible  Study  and 
Prayer,— Prayer  and  the  Scriptures,— Prayer 
while  we  read  the  Scriptures,  this  way  to  the 
"  consulting  room !  " 

And  prayer  is  not  always  speech.  It  may 
be  but  adoring  silence.  But  how  often 
"through  the  silence  comes  a  Voice."  It 
may  be  but  the  reverent  submission  of  a  soul 
to  the  inspection  of  the  great  Specialist,  even 
as  the  penitent  psalmist  prayed,  "  Search  me, 
try  me  1 " 

There  is  a  verse  in  the  Epistle  to  the  He- 
brews which  indicates  that  one  of  the  dead- 


72  CHAPEL  TALKS 

liest  enemies  of  our  souls  is  the  habit, — yet 
not  so  much  a  habit  as  an  habitude,  which  is 
to  say,  an  habitual  attitude — of  drifting  pur- 
poselessly with  the  current  of  popular  relig- 
ious life.  Unconsciously  we  lose  our  moor- 
ings. The  drift  of  the  age  may  be  away 
from  spirituality.  There  may  be  a  popular 
reaction  from  what  is  called  Puritanism. 
People  about  us  may  hold  spiritual  things  in 
light  esteem.  There  may  be  nobody  near 
with  whom  we  may  converse  frankly  about 
the  things  of  the  soul ;  and  as  a  result, 
often  before  we  know  it,  we  are  far  from 
the  familiar  landmarks  of  strong  personal 
faith.  Many  a  soul  is  lost  that  way.  It  did 
not  deliberately  choose  evil.  It  did  not 
studiedly  reject  the  light.  It  needed  only 
life's  vigilant  angel,  fear, — nay,  God's  vigi- 
lant angel,  fear,  to  keep  it  bound  to  Him  and 
to  His  grace  and  truth. 

To  review,  these  are  the  things  we  have  to 
fear;  the  fear  of  God  means  fear  of  these: 
the  imperceptible  approach  of  evil,  the  grad- 
ual conquest  and  occupancy  by  other  powers 
and  forces,  secular,  sensuous,  temporal,  of 
those  spheres  of  life  which  belong  and  ought 
forever  to  belong  to  God ;  the  loss,  by  moral 


LIFE'S  VIGILANT  ANGEL,  FEAR     73 

leakage,  of  resisting  power ;  the  weakening, 
by  indulgence  of  imagination  or  desire,  of 
those  moral  qualities  which  are  the  deep  in- 
trenchments  of  the  soul ;  and  the  loosening 
of  our  spiritual  anchorages  by  slothful  and 
indolent  conformity  in  mind  and  type  to  the 
debased  ideals  of  our  time  or  of  our  neigh- 
bourhood or  of  our  social  set. 

There  is  a  close  connection  between  fear 
and  conscience.  "Thus  conscience  doth 
make  cowards  of  us  all,"  says  Hamlet.  Yes, 
but  God's  cowards.  And  of  all  noble  spirits, 
the  noblest  are  "God's  fools"  and  "God's 
cowards." 

Many  a  man  has  seen  days  when  he  would 
have  chosen  death,  if  it  had  not  been  for  his 
accountability  to  God  for  the  use  of  life.  He 
dared  not  quench  the  fire  within  which  God 
kindled.     Dared  not  ? 

"  I  dare  do  all  which  doth  become  a  man. 
Who  dares  do  more  is  none  !  " 

It  was  a  saying  of  Sidney  Smith,  "  He  who 
fears  ridicule  is  at  the  mercy  of  every  fool." 
"  Fear  God  and  naught  else  "  is  the  motto  of 
one  of  the  noble  Scotch  families.  "  I  will 
fear  no  evil,"  says  the  shepherd-psalmist — 


74  CHAPEL  TALKS 

and  he  means  he  will  fear  no  calamity. 
Death  lies  before  him,  but  he  does  not  fear 
it.  Why  should  he?  It  is  the  pilgrim's 
pathway  home.  "What  can  separate  us 
from  the  love  of  God?"  asks  the  Apostle. 
Then  he  enumerates  the  things  most  of  us 
fear.  The  fear  of  God  has  cured  him  of  all 
other  fear.  So  may  it  be  with  us.  Then 
when  falls  the  darkness — darkness  of  advanc- 
ing age,  or  poverty,  or  peril  of  any  kind,  we 
shall  say,  "  God,  whom  we  fear  with  minds 
all  free  from  fear  of  circumstance,  our  Father 
is,  our  Father  and  our  Saviour  and  our  Ever- 
present  Friend  I " 


VI 

A  Day  in  Nazareth 

"  And  He  came  to  Nazareth  where  He  had 
been  brought  up  .*  and  as  His  custom  was.  He 
went  into  the  synagogue  on  the  Sabbath  Day, 
and  stood  up  to  read." — Luke  iv.  i6. 

THERE  are  three  places  to  which 
Jesus  need  not  have  gone.  He 
might  have  remained  away  from 
them  and  the  world  would  have  called  Him  a 
prudent  man.  To  go  to  either  of  these  three 
places  was  to  invite  trouble.  But  He  went. 
"He  must  needs  go."  He  was  under  the 
compulsion  of  the  Spirit.  He  could  not  have 
remained  away  and  retained  His  own  self- 
respect  or  the  approval  of  His  Father.  His 
going  proves  His  courage.  The  philosopher 
who  defined  courage  as  "the  love  of  the 
morally  beautiful  more  than  life,"  described 
one  of  the  characteristic  traits  of  our  Lord. 
Not  only  had  He  an  ample  soul,  a  soul  of  far 
horizons,  but  He  had  a  fearless  soul,  a  souJ 
75 


76  CHAPEL  TALKS 

serene  in  the  face  of  facts  and  forces  which 
would  have  daunted  another. 

Jerusalem  was  the  first  of  the  three  places 
Jesus  would  not  have  visited  had  He  con- 
sulted only  His  own  welfare.  That  was  the 
center  of  the  enemy's  country.  The  ecclesias- 
ticism  which  He  antagonized  with  the  very 
spirit  of  His  Gospel  had  its  seat  of  power  there. 
The  priests  were  no  friends  of  His.  The  Phari- 
sees and  scribes  were  hostile.  The  Herodi- 
ans  and  Zealots  alike  were  suspicious  of 
Jesus'  motives.  Doubtless  Jesus  had  some 
friends  in  and  about  Jerusalem  but  they  were 
far  outnumbered  by  enemies.  Yet  "  He  set 
His  face  steadfastly  towards  Jerusalem."  It 
is  no  wonder  that  a  gifted  young  Japanese 
student  at  Yale,  when  asked  what  feature  of 
Jesus'  life  most  impressed  him  at  his  first 
reading  of  the  New  Testament,  answered, 
"Jesus'  last  journey  to  Jerusalem." 

Samaria  was  another  place  Jesus  might 
have  prudently  avoided.  The  Jews  had  no 
dealings  with  the  Samaritans.  The  origin  of 
the  race  hatred  that  existed  between  these 
two  peoples  is  lost  in  the  mists  of  early  tradi- 
tion, but  Josephus  in  his  "Antiquities" 
throws  much  light  upon  the  state  of  mind  of 


A  DAY  m  NAZAEETH  77 

both  Jews  and  Samaritans  about  this  time. 
A  Samaritan  had  defiled  the  Jewish  temple 
on  Mount  Zion  by  scattering  human  bones 
therein.  A  Jew  had  evened  the  score  by 
setting  fire  to  the  Samaritan  temple  on 
Mount  Gerizim.  The  two  temples  were  rival 
establishments.  Religious  prejudices,  differ- 
ences of  opinion  based  upon  religious  dogmas 
and  practices,  lie  very  deep  in  the  human 
heart  and  are  next  to  immovable.  He  is  a 
bold,  not  to  say  a  reckless,  man  who  ignores 
such  barriers.  Yet  Jesus  ignored  them,  and 
went  through  Samaria  as  though  it  were  the 
most  natural  thing  in  the  world  for  Him  to 
do.  It  was.  When  did  He  ever  turn  back 
from  obstacles  ?  When  did  a  difficulty  ever 
daunt  Him  ?  **  Difficulties  become  problems 
only  to  those  who  endeavour  to  solve  them.'* 
Not  only  race  prejudice  and  class  prejudice, 
but  sex  prejudice  Jesus  absolutely  ignored. 
At  a  time  when,  even  in  Greece,  for  a  woman 
to  be  learned  was  to  lose  her  reputation,  Jesus 
expounded  His  profoundest  philosophy  of 
spiritual  worship  to  a  woman,  an  alien 
woman,  a  woman  who  was  *'  no  better  than 
the  law  allowed."  I  do  not  know  what  you 
call  that,  but  I  call  it  superb  courage. 


78  CHAPEL  TALKS 

The  third  place  from  which  Jesus  might 
have  remained  away,  in  view  of  all  the  cir- 
cumstances, was  Nazareth.  There  He  was 
brought  up.  There  He  was  remembered  as 
a  barefoot  boy,  a  child  of  obscure  birth, 
a  manual  labourer,  who  had  dared  to  enter 
upon  a  career  of  public  teaching  without  the 
sanction  of  the  schools.  No  prophet  has 
honour  in  his  own  country.  It  is  the  tragedy 
of  familiarity.  **  What  ?  That  man  great  ? 
He  learned,  distinguished,  successful  ?  He  a 
judge,  a  journalist,  an  orator,  a  leader  of 
men  ?  Impossible !  Why,  I  used  to  know 
him."  (The  argument  being,  evidently,  that 
any  man  I  used  to  know  cannot  possibly  be 
great  I ) 

At  the  unveiling  of  the  statue  of  a  literary 
man  abroad  some  years  ago,  an  American 
visitor  said  to  the  aged  widow  of  the  man 
his  nation  honoured,  *'  What  an  inexpressible 
privilege  you  had  to  know  him  so  intimately, 
to  listen  to  his  table  talk."  Perhaps  we  may 
forgive  her,  knowing  the  childishness  of  old 
age,  for  replying,  "Yes,  I  suppose  so,  but 
his  table  manners  weren't  always  nice."  The 
tragedy  of  familiarity.  He  is  hero  indeed 
who  is  a  hero  to  his  valet,  to  his  grocer,  to 


A  DAY  m  InTAZAEETH  79 

the  policeman  on  his  beat,  to  the  conductor 
of  the  car  he  daily  rides  in,  to  the  waiter  at 
his  restaurant.  William  Winter  writes  of 
Shakespeare : 

"  The  folk  who  lived  in  Shakespeare's  day, 
And  saw  that  gentle  spirit  pass 
By  London  Bridge,  the  frequent  way, 
They  little  knew  what  man  he  was." 

Jesus'  own  brother  James  did  not  believe 
in  His  Messiahship  until  after  the  crowning 
miracle  of  the  resurrection.  Perhaps  there 
was  just  one  person  in  Nazareth  who  did  be- 
lieve in  that  wonderful  Boy,  that  still  more 
wonderful  Man,  and  she  kept  her  faith  un- 
spoken in  her  heart, — the  mother  who,  al- 
most alone,  knew  the  secret  of  that  marvellous 
birth. 

Back  to  Nazareth  where  He  was  brought 
up,  to  confront  the  sluggish  minds  and  prej- 
udiced hearts  of  His  old  neighbours,  went 
this  Man  of  will  inflexible.  He  was  always 
doing  things  and  saying  things  that  required 
heroic  will.  He  was  always  going  where  it 
demanded  faith  and  virtue  (in  the  old  Latin 
sense)  to  go.  He  faced  the  demoniac  among 
the  tombs.    He  touched  the  leper.    He  dared 


80  CHAPEL  TALKS 

to  drive  out  of  the  temple  the  sacrilegious 
merchants  who  had  made  His  Father's  house 
a  den  of  thieves. 

The  compassionate  Christ,  the  merciful 
Christ,  the  tender-hearted  Christ,  you  will 
find  in  art.  But  this  is  the  leonine  Christ, 
the  conquering  Christ,  the  invincible  warrior 
of  righteousness.  What  is  the  secret  of  it 
all?  Duty.  That  was  His  great  word.  It 
shone  before  Him  like  a  star  when  He  was  a 
lad  of  twelve  and  spoke  about  His  Father's 
business.  It  lighted  up  His  pathway  to  the 
Jordan  when  at  the  baptismal  altar  He  ful- 
filled all  righteousness.  It  guided  Him  from 
province  to  province  and  from  river  to  coast, 
across  mountains  and  over  deserts,  as  He  be- 
came a  minister  to  many.  Duty,  conscience, 
the  moral  imperative,  the  Father's  will,  the 
still  small  voice, — this  it  was  that  made  His 
life  glorious  not  alone  with  passive  goodness 
but  with  active  and  universal  benevolence, 
the  memory  of  which  can  never  die.  That 
beautiful,  dutiful  life  rises  before  us  in  vision 
to-day  like  a  flowery  island  in  the  midst  of  a 
desolate  sea.  **  The  bright  mirror  of  Jesus' 
soul  reflected  only  light," — the  light  of  duty, 
undimmed  by  thought  of  self  or  safety. 


A  DAY  IN  KAZAEETH  81 

Now  that  Jesus  is  at  Nazareth,  on  the  Sab- 
bath day,  let  us  see  what  He  does.  He 
enters  the  synagogue.  He  worships.  He 
reads  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  Covenant. 
So  we  learn  that  Jesus  was  a  Sabbath-keeper, 
a  church-goer,  a  Bible  reader.  Consider  these 
facts : 

He  was  a  Sabbath-keeper.  He  was  Lord 
of  the  Sabbath,  and  yet  His  attitude  towards 
the  Sabbath  was  that  of  the  humblest  child 
of  God.  He  could  have  commanded,  but 
He  chose  to  obey.  Indeed  He  proved  His 
right  to  command  by  His  willingness  to 
obey.  Shall  His  example  be  lost  on  us  ?  Is 
there  not  peril  that  we  have  come  to  hold 
the  Sabbath  all  too  lightly  ?  With  our  week- 
end parties,  our  joy-riding,  and  our  pleasure- 
seeking,  the  Sabbath  of  our  fathers  is  slipping 
away  from  us,  with  much  of  its  sanctity  and 
practically  all  of  its  quiet.  The  newspapers, 
every  Monday  morning,  are  filled  with  ac- 
counts of  accidents,  drownings,  automobile 
collisions  and  the  like.  We  have  turned  a 
holy  day  into  a  holiday,  and  considering  our 
temptations,  it  is  remarkable  that  so  many 
of  our  young  people  still  remain  true  to 
the  spirit  of  our  Sabbath-keeping  ancestors. 


82  CHAPEL  TALKS 

There  is  small  probability  of  any  partner- 
ship between  church  and  state  in  America. 
In  our  anxiety  to  get  away  from  anything 
that  savours  of  an  established  religion,  we 
are  likely  to  get  away  from  religion,  unless 
it  be  held  by  the  individual  with  inflexible 
purpose  and  with  devout  loyalty. 

Jesus  was  a  church-goer.  There  were  three 
reasons  at  least  why  He  need  not  have 
gone  to  the  synagogue  on  the  Sabbath  Day. 
He  was  a  weary  man ;  He  knew  how  empty 
was  the  religious  formalism  of  the  syna- 
gogue, and  He  had  unbroken  fellowship 
with  the  Father  without  the  employment  of 
ceremonial  aids  to  spiritual  communion.  Yet 
He  goes  into  the  synagogue.  Duty  leads 
Him  there.  He  cannot  be  our  perfect  ex- 
ample and  remain  away.  Moreover,  oppor- 
tunity invites  Him,  for  there  the  people  are 
assembled  and  there  they  will  listen  to  any 
voice  that  has  a  message  of  moral  or  relig- 
ious value.  Let  busy,  weary  people  remem- 
ber that  Jesus  did  not  regard  His  burdened 
life  and  His  exhausted  strength  a  sufficient 
excuse  for  non-attendance  at  the  place  of 
prayer.  Let  critical  people,  and  people  of 
superior  spiritual  attainments,  remember  that 


A  DAY  IN  NAZAEETH  83 

the  Son  of  God  Himself  employed  an  imper- 
fect institution,  the  unsatisfactory  symbols  of 
the  church  of  His  day,  in  the  worship  of  the 
Infinite.  Are  we  following  Jesus?  Then  let 
us  follow  Him  into  the  place  of  public  wor- 
ship. Aside  from  any  question  of  our  need, 
there  is  the  question  of  our  following  Him, 
the  question  of  our  faith  in  His  faith,  our 
belief  in  His  belief. 

We  are  not  without  high  human  examples 
in  the  matter  of  Sabbath-keeping  and  church- 
going.  A  distinguished  journalist,  in  his 
**  Letters  to  a  Workingman,"  pleads  for  the 
habit  of  church-going  among  labouring  men. 
He  testifies  that  he,  a  literary  man,  accus- 
tomed to  the  society  of  books  and  learned 
people,  has  derived  more  literary  inspiration 
from  the  services  of  the  sanctuary  than  from 
any  other  one  source.  Moreover,  he  points 
to  the  practical  value  of  church-going  in  the 
significant  saying,  "I  find  I  need  a  moral 
bath  about  once  a  week." 

Moreover,  Jesus  read  the  Scriptures  in  the 
synagogue  at  Nazareth  that  day.  Oh,  to 
have  been  there!  Oh,  to  have  heard  His 
voice  interpreting  the  words  of  Isaiah !  What 
would  we   not   give   to   have  heard  Shake- 


84  CHAPEL  TALKS 

speare  read  the  soliloquy  in  Hamlet,  or  to 
have  heard  Tennyson  read  **In  Memoriam," 
or  to  have  heard  Browning  read  "  Prospice  "  ? 
Vastly  more  would  we  give  to  have  heard 
Jesus  read  that  prophecy  of  Isaiah  which 
most  clearly  points  to  Himself.  Do  I  speak 
of  something  that  is  impossible  ?  Not  so  far 
as  Jesus  is  concerned.  He  is  still  on  earth. 
He  is  still  with  His  people  and  never  so  near, 
never  so  intimately  near,  as  when  they  read 
the  Scriptures  concerning  Him.  He  joined 
the  two  disciples  on  their  way  to  Emmaus 
while  they  were  talking  of  Him.  He  joins 
every  company  of  disciples  whenever  they 
think  of  Him  or  long  for  Him.  He  is  the 
Interpreter  of  His  own  Book.  The  Spirit  of 
Jesus  is  the  cryptogram,  the  secret  cipher, 
the  intimate  code,  the  possession  of  which 
gives  us  insight  into  the  heart  of  the  mys- 
teries of  the  written  Word.  The  presence  of 
Jesus  with  us  in  the  reading  of  the  Word 
gives  insight  into  many  an  otherwise  dark 
chapter,  a  farsight  through  many  a  dim  vista 
of  time  past  and  of  time  that  is  still  to  come. 
If  the  Bible  is  a  dead,  dry  book  to  us,  it  is 
because  we  have  not  discerned  the  presence 
in  it  of  a  Living  Person.     Christ  is  in  the 


A  DAY  m  NAZAEETH  85 

Old  Testament  as  well  as  the  New,  waiting 
to  be  discovered — and  thenceforth  to  be  an 
aid  to  discovery. 

What  light  these  words  of  Isaiah,  read  by 
the  Master  that  day  in  the  synagogue,  throw 
on  that  most  important  question,  **  Why  did 
Jesus  come  into  the  world  "  ?  We  have  great 
respect  for  philosophers  and  theologians  who 
have  answered  this  question  variously, — for 
those  who  say  that  Jesus  came  to  prove  the 
love  of  God,  and  for  those  who  say  that  He 
came  to  make  atonement  for  the  sins  of  men, 
and  for  those  who  say  that  He  came  to  show 
us  how  divine  may  be  our  lives,  to  be  the 
type  of  our  ultimate  earthly  development. 
Let  us  accept  all  these,  but  if  we  would  have 
the  best  answer  to  the  question,  let  us  go  to 
Jesus  Himself.  He  must  ever  be  the  highest 
critic  concerning  His  own  words  and  works. 
Why  did  Jesus  come  ?  Why  is  He  on  earth 
still  ?  What  is  He  doing  here  ?  We  have 
the  highest  authority  for  the  answer.  Here 
it  is,  from  the  lips  of  Jesus  Himself.  *'  The 
Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  Me,  because  He 
hath  anointed  Me  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the 
poor ;  He  hath  sent  Me  to  heal  the  broken- 
hearted, to  preach  deliverance  to  the  cap- 


86  CHAPEL  TALKS 

tives,  and  recovering  of  sight  to  the  blind,  to 
set  at  liberty  them  that  are  bruised  ;  to  preach 
the  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord." 

So  Jesus  went  to  Nazareth  and  worshipped 
with  His  old  neighbours  that  day.  So  He 
addressed  them.  Most  that  He  said  is  not 
recorded  here.  He  must  have  said  much 
that  is  not  set  down  in  the  Book.  The  effect 
produced  by  His  presence  and  His  discourse 
is  such  that  we  may  safely  judge  the  charac- 
ter of  what  He  said.  The  people  were  indig- 
nant. They  rose  up  and  would  have  cast 
Him  out.  Just  for  the  reading  of  those  words 
from  Isaiah?  Oh,  no.  Doubtless  He  re- 
buked their  narrowness  and  pride.  Doubt- 
less He  reproved  them  for  their  unbelief  and 
exhorted  them  to  penitence.  Doubtless  He 
had  much  to  say  such  as  He  said  in  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount.  They  felt  that  He  had  in- 
dicted and  accused  them.  They  were  pricked 
in  their  hearts.  Their  personal  and  profes- 
sional prejudices  were  aroused  ;  so  they  re- 
jected Him.  They  must  have  known  of  His 
miracles  of  healing.  They  had  themselves 
listened  to  His  equally  wonderful  teaching. 
Yet  they  rejected  Him  and  had  He  not  es- 
caped,  would  probably  have  stoned  Him  to 


A  DAY  IK  NAZAEETH  87 

death.  Doubt  not  His  rejection  in  His  own 
home  town  caused  Him  many  a  heartache. 
He  was  human  as  well  as  divine.  He  had 
pride.  Praise  and  approval  were  dear  to 
Him.  This  was  a  crucifixion  of  His  spirit, 
prophetic  of  that  crucifixion  of  the  flesh  which 
was  ere  long  to  follow,  in  Jerusalem. 

Why  did  the  Nazarenes  reject  Jesus  ?  For 
no  better  reason  than  those  for  which  we  re- 
ject Him.  And  we  reject  Him  whenever  we 
prefer  present  ease  to  future  good  ;  whenever 
we  let  the  body  lord  it  over  the  flesh  ;  when- 
ever we  follow  the  line  of  the  least  resistance 
morally,  surrender  spiritual  power,  and  re- 
nounce our  heavenly  inheritance  ;  whenever 
we  choose  the  easy  path,  and  let  the  phantom 
success  lure  us  from  the  straight  and  narrow 
way ;  whenever  we  listen  to  the  tempter's 
voice  that  says,  in  the  face  of  deadly  sin, 
"Thou  shalt  not  surely  die,"  and  whenever 
we  give  dominion  to  the  forces  that  are  clearly 
of  the  earth  earthy  in  competition  with  the 
forces  that  are  of  the  spirit  spiritual.  Reject- 
ing Jesus  thus,  whom  do  we  reject?  Friend 
and  succourer  of  our  souls  ;  earth's  incarnate 
wonder  ;  heaven's  interceding  Lord  ;  the  one 
Name  given  under  heaven  or  among  men 


88  CHAPEL  TALKS 

whereby  we  must  be  saved.  Rejecting  Him, 
we  turn  away  from  honour  and  glory  and 
immortality.  The  story  of  this  text  has  no 
greater  present  lesson  than  this:  In  the 
choices  of  every  day,  in  the  judgments  of 
every  hour,  we  are  choosing  or  rejecting 
Christ.  Before  this  day  is  over  we  shall  be- 
friend Him,  or  cast  Him  out.  Pray  God  we 
may  not  be  blind  to  the  heavenly  vision  and 
deaf  to  the  heavenly  voice  in  the  day  of  our 
visitation. 


VII 
If  Thou  Knewest 

«« If  thou  knewest  the  gift  of  God." — John  /V.  lO. 

IF  we  would  see  Jesus  at  His  best  as  a 
teacher  and  as  a  tactician,  if  we  would 
see  the  value  He  places  on  the  human 
soul,  on  any  soul,  just  because  it  is  a  soul ; 
if  we  would  see  His  preeminence  as  a  re- 
former ;  if  we  would  see  how  He  rose  above 
prejudice,  race  prejudice,  class  prejudice,  sex 
prejudice,  how  He  conquered  prejudice  by 
ignoring  it ;  if  we  would  see  how  Jesus  led 
a  soul  out  and  on  and  up  from  a  narrow  big- 
otry to  a  tolerant  spirituality,  then  this  is  the 
chapter  for  us  to  read. 

Having  read  it,  let  us  forget  the  circum- 
stance, forget  the  human  personality  in- 
volved in  it,  and  address  ourselves  to  a 
single  saying  of  the  Divine  Personality  who, 
after  all,  is  the  chief  figure  of  value  for  us. 
Jesus  asked  for  a  drink  of  water.  The 
woman  wondered  that  He,  apparently  a  Jew, 
should  ask  a  favour  of  a  Samaritan.  He 
89 


90  CHAPEL  TALKS 

said,  "  If  thou  knewest  the  gift  of  God  and 
who  I  am,  thou  wouldst  have  asked  of  Me 
and  I  would  have  given  thee  living  water." 

**  If  thou  knewest  1 "  Of  all  sad  words,  the 
saddest  are  not,  **  It  might  have  been."  The 
essence  of  tragedy  is  in  this  little  word  of  two 
letters — "  if."  **  If  thou  knewest."  How  much 
we  miss  by  ignorance, — how  much  we  all  miss ! 
Illustrations  rush  in  to  embarrass  us  by  their 
very  number. 

Gold  was  not  discovered  in  California  un- 
til 1849,  but  the  gold  had  been  there  for  mil- 
lenniums. America  was  not  discovered  until 
the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century.  Mariners  had 
hugged  the  coasts  of  Europe  and  Africa  for 
centuries,  afraid  to  venture  far,  until  the  com- 
pass was  invented.  Constantinople  need 
not  have  fallen  in  1453  had  Constantine 
Palaeologus  known  that  the  new  compound 
known  as  gunpowder  was  at  his  command. 

How  many  women  sewed  themselves 
blind,  stitched  their  hearts  into  the  garments 
they  made,  before  Elias  Howe  gave  the 
world  the  sewing  machine !  How  many 
lives  were  lost  before  surgery  developed  into 
the  almost  miraculous  art  as  we  know  it! 
How  many  tortured   sufferers   before   anes- 


IF  THOU  KNEWEST  91 

thesia  I  How  many  gangrened  wounds  be- 
fore asepsis !  How  many  deaths  from  con- 
sumption because  we  did  not  know  how  to 
cure  it  and  how  to  prevent  it  I  How  many 
are  dying  now,  of  cancer,  and  of  infantile 
paralysis,  because  we  do  not  know  how  to 
deal  with  these  mysterious  diseases  I  We 
shall  know  presently,  and  then  the  world  will 
think  of  us  and  say,  "  How  much  they 
missed  by  not  knowing  I " 

In  a  certain  prison  a  man  lay  awaiting  the 
execution  of  the  death  sentence.  If  he  could 
only  get  the  governor's  ear,  he  would  plead 
for  a  commutation,  he  would  explain.  The 
warden  brought  a  visitor  through  the  cor- 
ridor. The  visitor  stopped  at  this  prisoner's 
cell,  asked  a  question  or  two,  received  swift, 
curt  answers,  and  passed  on.  It  was  not  un- 
til the  next  day  the  condemned  man  learned 
that  the  visitor  was  the  governor.  Vain  re- 
grets.    *•  If  I  had  only  known  1 " 

There  are  men  about  us  who  are  under 
sentence  of  death — slowly  dying,  dying  be- 
fore their  time,  dying  of  broken  laws  of 
health,  and  there  are  bitter  hours  when  they 
reflect,  **  If  I  had  only  known  I  If  some  one 
had  only  told  me  I " 


92  CHAPEL  TALKS 

But  those  of  us  who  have  lived  long  know 
quite  well  that  death  is  not  the  saddest  thing 
on  earth.  It  may  seem  so,  but  it  is  not  so. 
There  are  lives  that  are  infinitely  worse  than 
death, — lives  out  of  which  love  and  truth  and 
faith  have  gone,  and  from  such  hearts  the 
cry  ascends,  "  Oh,  if  we  had  only  known  1 " 

The  gifts  of  health  and  wealth  and  friend- 
ship we  miss  by  ignorance  are  legion.  But 
these  are  not  earth's  best  possessions.  These 
are  indeed  gifts  of  God,  but  there  is  THE 
Gift  of  God,  and  myriads  miss  it  by  not 
knowing. 

Joseph  McCracken,  idol  of  the  football 
field  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  who 
took  a  thorough  course  in  medicine  and  sur- 
gery, and  rejecting  oilers  of  enticing  promise 
at  home,  went  to  China  because  of  China's 
deep  need  of  Christian  doctors,  said  it  never 
dawned  upon  him  how  great  was  China's 
need  until  he  saw  its  largest  city,  Canton, 
with  its  myriads  of  people,  and  observed  at 
almost  every  step  men  and  women  labouring 
under  fearful  disadvantage  for  lack  of  ade- 
quate medical  and  surgical  care.  The  blind 
from  cataract  could  receive  their  sight  again 
if  they  knew.     The  little  children  with  con- 


IF  THOU  KNEWEST  93 

genital  hip  dislocation  could  run  and  leap  if 
they  knew.  But  when  he  looked  more  deeply 
he  saw  that  profounder  needs  than  these  are 
there.  The  care-burdened  soul  might  drop 
his  burden  and  bear  away  a  song ;  the  sin- 
fevered  soul  might  feel  the  cooling  touch  of 
a  Saviour's  hand ;  the  disconsolate  mourner 
might  lift  up  his  heart  in  hope ;  the  unsatis- 
fied heart  might  find  rest  and  the  groping 
spirit  might  find  light, — if  they  knew — if  they 
knew — the  gifts  of  God. 

For  God  has  gifts  for  us, — **  peace,  perfect 
peace  in  this  dark  world  of  sin  ; "  release 
from  guilt-consciousness ;  wings  with  which 
to  rise  above  the  bitterness  and  vexation  of 
life,  and  courage  to  face  the  bleakest  or  the 
blackest  day  with  eyes  that  behold  "  the 
light  that  never  was  on  'Jand  or  sea."  And 
all  of  these  are  included  in  THE  Gift  of  God, 
which  is  nothing  that  God  can  confer  upon 
us,  and  nothing  that  God  can  do  for  us,  but 
the  Presence  of  God  with  us.  This  is  life 
eternal,  to  know  God  and  to  know  Him  as 
near,  very  near,  now. 

N-0-W-H-E-R-E  spells  two  words,  "  no 
where  "  and  **  now  here."  How  do  we  pro- 
nounce it  ?     If  we  knew,  it  should  be  "  now 


94  CHAPEL  TALKS 

here."  This  is  the  meaning  of  the  Gospel  of 
Jesus  Christ, — God  with  us.  And  this  is  the 
essence  of  His  religion,  the  practice  of  the 
presence  of  God. 

But  we  cannot  practice  a  thing  we  do  not 
recognize,  much  less  a  thing  we  do  not  know. 
Do  we  know  that  Jesus  is  here  now  just  as 
really  as  He  was  with  the  disciples  on  the 
Mount  ?  Do  we  know  that  He  is  saying  to 
us,  *'  Give  [Me  a  place  in  your  thoughts  and 
in  your  hearts  "  ?  He  is.  He  is.  And  all 
His  gifts  await  only  our  appreciation. 

In  the  dry-farming  districts  of  the  West, 
where  irrigation  canals  bring  the  water  to  the 
edge  of  the  grain  field  or  the  orchard,  the 
farmer  has  little  channels  dug  through  his 
fields  up  to  the  canal.  There  is  a  gateway. 
When  the  crops  need  moisture  all  he  has  to 
do  is  to  open  the  gateway.  The  lifting  of  a 
lever  brings  the  river  to  his  vineyard  or  gar- 
den. The  lifting  of  a  lever  brings  all  the  re- 
sources of  the  Infinite  into  our  lives.  Paul 
lifted  it,  and  in  the  consciousness  of  new  sup- 
plies of  grace  cried  out,  "  I  can  do  all  things 
through  the  strengthening  Christ."  In  a  re- 
cent book  by  Philip  I.  Roberts,  entitled  "  The 
Dry-Dock    of    a    Thousand    Wrecks,"    but 


IF  THOU  KNEWEST  96 

which,  some  one  has  suggested,  should  be 
called  ''  Out  of  the  Depths,"  he  tells  the  story 
of  ten  men,  every  one  a  hopeless,  helpless 
outcast,  who  in  a  single  place— the  Water 
Street  Mission  in  New  York— laid  hold  on 
that  lever  and  rose  to  walk  in  newness  of  life, 
"  above  the  world  and  sin,  with  heart  made 
pure  and  garments  white,  and  Christ  en- 
throned within." 

But  the  highest  of  the  high  need  to  know 
and  have  the  gift  of  God  quite  as  much  as 
the  lowest  of  the  low.  The  hearts  of  men  do 
not  differ  half  so  much  as  their  clothes.  And 
the  need  of  the  human  heart  is  God,  and 
Christ  is  God  offering  Himself  to  the  heart 
of  man,  offering  Himself  as  Counsellor  and 
Comforter,  Guide  and  Guard,  Sweetness  and 
Light,  Succour  and  Deliverance.  This  is  the 
gift  of  God — and  Paul  says  it  is  the  free  gift. 
"  The  free  gift  of  God  is  eternal  life  through 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord." 

But  is  "  free  gift  "  not  tautology  ?— If  a 
gift,  of  course  it  is  free.  Oh,  no.  We  pay 
high  prices  for  some  gifts.  And  we  would  pay 
a  high  price  for  this  if  it  were  purchasable. 

What  pilgrimages  would  we  not  make! 
What  penances  would  we   not  pay  I     What 


96  CHAPEL  TALKS 

prayer  wheels  would  we  not  turn  I  What 
gold  and  jewels  would  we  not  offer,  if  eternal 
life  could  be  secured  thereby !  But  it  cannot. 
There  is  but  one  way  to  secure  it — the  lifting 
of  the  lever. 

Is  the  parable  not  plain?  The  lever  is 
Prayer.  And  all  that  we  miss  by  not 
knowing,  we  miss — even  if  we  do  know — by 
not  asking  1  "  If  thou  hadst  known,  thou 
wouldst  have  asked."  The  greatest  unused 
force  in  the  church  ?  Nay — rather,  the  great- 
est unused  force  in  the  universe  is  prayer. 
We  were  defeated  in  our  struggle  with  self 
last  week  because  we  did  not  pray.  We 
sank  under  the  wave  of  trouble  because  we 
did  not  pray.  We  missed  the  way  when  we 
came  to  the  parting  of  the  ways  because  we 
did  not  pray.  We  face  what  we  call  "  the 
apparent  unreality  of  religion  "  because  we 
do  not  pray. '  We  are  staggering  under  an 
unrelieved  burden  because  we  do  not  pray. 
We  are  poor  in  spiritual  goods  because  we 
have  not  asked  I  We  have  no  sense  of  God's 
nearness  because  we  do  not  ask  for  it.  We 
go  into  the  thick  of  the  fight  unarmed  and 
unarmoured,  because  we  fail  to  ask  for  the 
arms  and  the  armour. 


IF  THOU  KNEWEST  97 

Let  us  stop  asking  for  toys  and  tops  and 
red  apples  and  smooth  paths  and  easy  times  ; 
let  us  stop  asking  for  the  pebbles  to  be  taken 
out  of  our  paths,  stop  asking  for  mere  things, 
for  chattels,  for  mere  collateral,  and  ask  to  be 
made  strong  men  and  women,  by  the  gift  of 
His  own  indwelling.  He  who  asked  of  old, 
**  What  advantage  have  I  if  I  pray  to  Him  ?  " 
missed  the  whole  meaning  of  prayer.  What 
advantage  ?  What  profit  ?  What  gain  ? 
Why,  we  have  Him ! 

Let  us  change  the  figure.  Here  is  a  man 
in  a  boat.  The  boat  is  out  in  a  stream.  The 
boat  is  tied  to  a  stake  on  the  shore.  How 
shall  he  get  ashore?  Let  him  take  hold  of 
the  rope  and  pull.  That  is  prayer.  But  that 
is  not  all  of  prayer.  Our  souls  are  not  pull- 
ing towards  a  dead  stake  on  a  barren  shore. 
We  are  tied  to  another  boat,  and  there  is 
a  Man  in  that  boat  holding  the  rope,  and 
He  is  always  pulling  us  towards  Him.  A 
Man  ?  Yea,  and  a  God !  Our  prayers  are 
only  half  the  work.  God  is  working  for  us, 
working  towards  us,  and  if  we  knew, — the 
waves  of  thought  which  separate  us  from 
God  to-day  would  part  right  speedily,  and 
the  gift  of   God,  the  supreme  gift  of  God, 


98  CHAPEL  TALKS 

would  pass  into  our  possession  at  once  and 
forever. 

Mr.  Gilder,  poet  and  editor,  who  so  re- 
cently left  us,  saw  a  book  en  tided,  *'  The 
Passing  of  Christ,"  and  wrote : 

'*  Behold  Him  now  where  He  comes  ! 

Not  the  Christ  of  our  subtle  creeds, 

But  the  light  of  our  hearts,  of  our  homes, 

Of  our  hopes,  our  prayers,  our  needs, 

The  brother  of  want  and  blame, 
^    The  lover  of  women  and  men, 

With  a  love  that  puts  to  shame 

All  passions  of  mortal  ken. 

***** 

Ah,  no,  thou  life  of  the  heart, 

Never  shalt  thou  depart ! 

Not  till  the  leaven  of  God 

Shall  lighten  each  human  clod  ; 
•     Not  till  the  world  shall  climb 

To  thy  height  serene,  sublime, 

Shall  the  Christ  who  enters  our  door 

Pass  to  return  no  more." 


VIII 
The  Saving  Few 

*'  And  there  went  with  him  a  band  of  men 
whose  hearts  God  had  touched. "" 

— I  Samuel  X.  26. 


T^ 


HE  early  history  of  Israel  is  full  of 
_  peculiar  interest.  It  is  the  record 
•"■"  of  the  development  of  a  people  in 
the  science  of  self-government.  So  long  as 
a  race  is  in  its  childhood,  it  needs  no  elabo- 
rate system  of  government  and  is  capable  of 
no  such  government,  the  purpose  of  govern- 
ment, the  protection  of  life,  liberty  and  prop- 
erty, being  secured  by  the  operation  of  the 
primal  elements  of  force  and  fear.  But  as 
the  race  rises  towards  manhood,  and  as  its  in- 
terests become  more  complex,  some  form  of 
organized  government  becomes  necessary. 
The  beginning  of  government  is  usually  a 
very  simple  form  of  organization.  There  is 
first  a  group  of  families,  forming  a  tribe  or 
clan.  Each  group  has  its  head,  each  clan  its 
chief.  There  is  no  nation ;  the  nation  is 
99 


100  CHAPEL  TALKS 

simply  an  aggregation  of  little  heterogeneous 
governments.  There  is  no  bond  of  union, 
no  cohesive  principle.  War  breaks  out  be- 
tween the  tribes  or  clans  and  they  slaughter 
one  another  mercilessly. 

As  time  goes  on,  however,  and  as  the 
people  of  a  given  territory  suffer  from  the 
aggressions  of  alien  tribes  or  races,  for  pur- 
poses of  protection  the  tribes  combine,  and 
some  one  man  comes  forward  to  lead  them 
all.  In  the  hour  of  victory  over  the  alien 
tribes,  some  one  cries  out,  "  Let  us  crown  the 
man  who  led  us  into  battle,  and  make  him 
chief  over  all."  It  is  done,  and  as  the  years 
go  by,  the  union  of  tribes  is  cemented  more 
and  more  closely  into  a  federation,  and  there 
is  something  very  like  a  kingdom.  So 
Caesar  rose  to  power.  So  have  most  of  the 
great  founders  of  empire  ascended  the  throne. 

In  the  first  Book  of  Samuel  we  find  Israel, 
who  for  four  hundred  years  needed  no  king, 
clamouring  for  a  king,  not  so  much  because 
they  need  a  king  as  because  the  surrounding 
nations  have  kings  and  they  aspire  to  be  like 
their  neighbours.  For  four  hundred  years 
Israel  had  been  under  the  peculiar  guidance 
of  the  King  of  Kings.     In  times  of  danger 


THE  SAYING  FEW  lOl 

deliverance  had  come  through  some  such 
genius  as  Gideon  or  Deborah.  God  was 
their  great  Defender,  but  God  is  never  with- 
out some  human  agent  to  accomplish  His 
will  among  men.  In  one  age  God  chooses 
Cyrus,  and  in  another  age  Charles  Martel;in 
one  age  Gustavus  Adolphus  and  in  another 
William  of  Orange ;  in  one  age  a  Washing- 
ton and  in  another  age  a  Lincoln.  God 
always  has  timber  growing  in  His  forest 
wherewith  to  make  a  vessel's  keel  or  form  a 
battering  ram. 

Now  that  Israel  is  demanding  a  king,  God 
gives  them  one,  and  his  name  is  Saul.     The 
method  of  his  choosing  is  here  related.    They 
are  wise  in  consulting  a  prophet  as  to  the 
selection  of  their  monarch.     They  have  great 
faith  in  Samuel's  wisdom,  for  he  has  shown 
himself  both  a  faithful  prophet  and  a  just 
judge.     The   world    has   changed   in   many 
ways  since  the  day  when  Israel  committed 
the  electorate  to  Samuel.     In  many  ways  the 
world  has  improved.     But  in  this  respect  we 
might  make  better  progress  by  going  back- 
ward,—by  regarding  the  choice  of  rulers  as 
a  religious  act.     Political  meetings  are  some- 
times opened  with  prayer,  but  I  have  never 


102  CHAPEL  TALKS 

yet  heard  that  a  ballot  box  has  been  opened 
with  prayer !  Please  do  not  misunderstand 
me.  1  would  not  advocate  a  suffrage  limited 
by  ecclesiastical  tests.  Nor  would  I  commit 
to  the  clergy  the  authority  to  crown  and 
uncrown,  to  call  and  recall  magistrates.  But 
it  has  come  to  pass  in  these  days  that  the 
power  which  elects  and  selects  the  agents  of 
civil  government  is  wielded  quite  largely  by 
men  who  have  no  conception  of  the  sacred- 
ness  of  the  functions  of  civic  authority.  It 
is  almost  everywhere  true  among  us  that 
caucuses  and  primaries  are  in  the  hands  of 
irresponsible  men.  This  is  especially  true  in 
the  most  populous  sections  of  our  large  cities. 
There  are  indeed  exceptions.  The  scholar 
and  the  gentleman,  the  man  of  culture  and 
the  man  of  character,  are  beginning  to  feel 
much  more  at  home  in  politics  than  was  once 
the  case.  Churchmen  are  beginning  to  see 
more  clearly  that  the  fault  is  theirs  if  inca- 
pable aldermen  or  corrupt  legislators  or  venal 
judges  are  elevated  to  office. 

Perhaps  some  critic  is  already  saying,  *'But 
the  choice  of  Saul  was  an  unfortunate  one 
though  directed  by  a  prophet."  So  it  may 
seem.     Saul    miserably    failed   and   his   sun 


THE  SAYIl^G  FEW  103 

went  down  in  darkness.  But  let  us  remem- 
ber, the  Eye  that  sees  all  and  the  Mind  that 
knows  all,  saw  and  knew  Saul,  and  God  said, 
"Saul  is  the  man."  And  he  was, — an  un- 
spoiled, valiant  and  devout  man,  a  born 
leader,  the  very  man  and  the  only  man  who 
could  hold  the  half-formed  but  rapidly  form- 
ing nation  in  his  hand.  If  Saul  failed  ;  if  he 
made  shipwreck  of  faith  ;  if,  as  has  been  sug- 
gested, the  cares  of  state  weighed  so  heavily 
upon  him  that  he  fell  a  prey  to  a  melancholia 
which  ended  in  madness,  charge  it  not  to 
Samuel,  charge  it  not  to  God ;  it  was  the 
failure  of  a  strong  but  willful  man  who  started 
right  but  went  wrong. 

And  if  Saul  failed  to  do  all  he  should  have 
done,  if  he  disappointed  Samuel  and  sank 
into  the  grave  of  an  irresolute  and  vanquished 
man,  charge  it  not  to  the  lack  of  good  coun- 
sel, for,  as  the  text  informs  us,  "  There  went 
with  him  (at  the  beginning  of  his  reign)  a 
band  of  men  whose  hearts  God  had  touched." 

All  that  these  words  mean  we  cannot  say. 
But  we  may  be  sure  of  this,  that  the  hearts 
which  had  been  God-touched  were  patriots, 
sincere  lovers  of  Israel ;  they  were  devout 
men  who   looked   to   the   Divine   Spirit  for 


104  CHAPEL  TALKS 

guidance  and  for  grace ;  they  were  loyal 
friends,  capable  of  strong  attachment  to  each 
other  and  to  their  king.  What  a  band  of 
men  that  must  have  been  I  Not  great  men, 
it  may  be,  and  not  saints,  but  good  men, 
strong  men,  brave  men,  men  of  conviction 
and  heroic  action.  They  were  not  many, — a 
little  band,  but  the  future  of  Saul  depended 
upon  his  fidelity  to  them,  and  the  hope  of 
Israel  was  in  the  increase  of  their  influence 
and  their  kind. 

Blessed  is  the  man  who,  when  dark  days 
come ;  when  every  blade  of  grass  turns  into 
a  serpent  and  every  serpent  develops  fangs, 
— happy  is  the  man  who  then  has  beside  him 
a  little  band  of  men  whose  hearts  God  has 
touched.  David  had  such  a  band  to  support 
him.  So  had  Elijah.  And  blessed  is  the 
nation  which,  in  a  crisis ;  in  the  presence  of 
foes  without  or  within,  when  the  great  mob, 
unthinking  as  the  swine  of  Gadara,  is  ready  to 
rush  down  a  steep  place  into  the  sea, — happy 
the  nation  that  has  such  a  little  band.  Their 
common  sense  will  hold  the  realm  in  awe. 
Their  courage  will  defeat  the  conspiracies  of 
the  enemy.  Their  faith  will  pierce  the  dark 
horizon  of  the  future,  and  speak  of  glorious 


THE  SAVING  FEW  105 

things  to  come.  A  little  band  of  men  whose 
hearts  God  has  touched  has  always  been  the 
saving  leaven  of  society,  the  purifying  salt  of 
the  earth,  the  radiating  light  of  the  world. 

If  we  remember  this  it  will  help  us  to  read 
history.  The  human  saviours  of  the  race 
have  always  been  a  little  company.  How 
many  were  there  in  Gideon's  band  when  the 
Midianites  threatened  the  overthrow  of  Is- 
rael? Not  half  a  modern  regiment.  How 
many  were  there  who  held  the  pass  at  Ther- 
mopylae? A  little  band.  How  many  were 
they  who  delayed  the  inrushing  hordes  of 
Germany  at  Liege?  A  little  band.  And 
this  is  true  of  moral  movements  as  well. 
The  first  disciples  of  our  Lord  were  only 
twelve.  The  church  at  Pentecost  numbered 
but  a  hundred  and  a  score.  And  when  the 
dark  ages  came,  succeeded  by  middle  ages 
almost  as  dark,  the  hope  of  the  pure  Gospel, 
the  germ  of  Protestantism,  was  preserved  in 
the  breasts  of  a  few  whose  knees  would  bow 
before  no  other  Master  and  whose  tongues 
would  confess  no  other  Name  than  Christ 
as  the  Church's  Head. 

Count  over  the  names  of  the  reformers, 
Savonarola  in   Florence,  Huss  in  Bohemia, 


106  CHAPEL  TALKS 

Wycliffe  in  England,  Zwinglius  in  Switzer- 
land, Luther,  Melancthon  and  Erasmus  in 
Germany,  and  who  are  they  ?  A  little  band 
of  men  whose  hearts  God  had  touched.  He 
touched  their  hearts  and  some  spoke,  and 
some  wrote  and  some  translated.  And  all 
laboured  for  the  rights  of  men  and  for  the 
untrammelled  grace  and  glory  of  God. 

A  hundred  and  eighty  years  ago  in  an 
English  university  there  was  a  little  band  of 
students  whose  hearts  God  had  touched  to 
hunger  for  holiness,  to  divine  dissatisfaction 
with  themselves  and  divine  discontent  with 
current  religious  conditions.  They  were 
from  humble  walks  in  life,  not  a  prince  or 
duke  or  lord  among  them,  and  at  first  there 
were  but  three.  Presently  the  three  had 
grown  to  five  and  the  five  to  seventeen. 
They  were  spoken  of  contemptuously  as 
'•The  Holy  Club,"  '*The  Godly  Club," 
**  Bible  Moths  "  and  **  Supererogation  Men." 
Sometimes  they  were  dignified  with  the  name 
*'  Enthusiasts."  By  a  few  they  were  called 
the  *'  Reform  Club."  One  of  them  was  a 
statesman  whose  name  was  John ;  another 
was  his  brother  Charles,  a  poet  and  musician, 
and  a  third  was  the  greatest  orator  of  his 


THE  SAYING  FEW  107 

day,  whom  David  Garrick  often  went  to 
hear,  and  whom  all  who  heard  honoured  as 
a  man  of  God.  This  third  man  crossed  the 
ocean  thirteen  times,  and  at  last  worn  out  by- 
travel  and  by  labour,  laid  his  weary  body 
down  to  rest  at  Newburyport,  Massachusetts, 
where  it  lies  beneath  the  pulpit  of  the  Con- 
gregational Church.  John  and  Charles  Wes- 
ley and  George  Whitefield  were  the  leaders 
of  a  litde  band  of  men  whose  hearts  God  had 
touched.  No  less  a  historian  than  Froude 
declares  that  the  movement  which  they 
started  redeemed  England  from  a  reign  of 
terror. 

A  litde  over  a  century  ago,  in  Williams- 
town,  Massachusetts,  the  site  of  Williams 
College,  there  was  a  little  band  of  men  whose 
hearts  God  had  touched  to  longing  for  the 
world's  evangelization.  In  the  friendly  shelter 
of  a  haystack  they  met  for  prayer  and  counsel, 
and  in  one  of  these  meetings  they  dedicated 
themselves  to  the  rescue  of  the  heathen 
world.  At  first  there  were  but  five,  but  out 
of  that  group  sprang  a  similar  group  at  An- 
dover,  and  in  that  second  group  was  Ado- 
niram  Judson,  the  aposde  to  Burma.  One  of 
that  litde  company  died  on  the  coast  of  Af- 


108  CHAPEL  TALKS 

rica.  Two  died  of  cholera  and  their  dust 
mingles  with  the  soil  of  Lidia.  Another  also 
died  in  India,  and  Adoniram  Judson,  like 
Thomas  Coke,  one  of  Wesley's  coadjutors, 
was  buried  at  sea.  Great  names  are  these, 
Mills,  Hall,  Newell,  Richards,  Judson. 

In  1844  there  met  in  a  dingy  room  in  Lon- 
don a  little  band  of  men  whose  hearts  God 
had  touched  to  sympathy  with  the  desolate 
and  morally  destitute  life  of  London  clerks. 
They  were  clerks,  and  they  knew  the  barren 
life  of  their  fellows,  and  the  temptability  of 
the  youth  away  from  home  in  a  great  city. 
So  they  organized  a  society  which  at  first 
was  called  the  Society  for  the  Promotion  of 
Morals  and  Religion  Among  Young  Men 
Engaged  in  the  Draper's  Trade.  This  so- 
ciety later  developed  into  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association,  which  has  belted  the 
globe  with  Christian  fellowship  and  faith. 
The  purpose  of  the  Association  has  been  no- 
where better  stated  than  in  the  language  of 
one  of  its  own  leaders,  **  To  introduce  men  to 
Christ,  to  build  men  up  in  Christ,  to  set  them 
to  work  for  Christ." 

About  forty  years  ago,  in  Kumamoto, 
Japan,  in  a  boys'  high  school,  there  was  a  lad 


THE  SAYING  FEW  109 

whose  heart  God  had  touched.  He  had 
found  Christ,  but  was  afraid  to  confess  Him. 
One  day,  however,  he  confided  his  secret  to 
another  student  as  they  walked  about  the 
campus,  and  his  heart  leaped  for  joy  when 
he  found  a  sympathetic  response.  They 
talked  to  other  boys  until  the  number  of 
Christians  among  them  increased  to  forty. 
Then  they  made  public  confession  of  their 
faith,  but  the  school  authorities  were  much 
displeased,  and  discontinued  the  school.  That 
looked  like  failure,  but  it  is  no  failure  when 
the  wind  bursts  a  ripened  seed  pod  and  the 
seeds  are  scattered  by  friendly  winds  over  a 
thousand  fertile  fields.  The  dispersion  of 
these  young  disciples  only  disseminated  more 
widely  the  new  faith,  and  not  a  few  of  that 
little  band  are  to-day  among  the  leaders  of 
the  Christian  Church  in  Japan. 

It  never  fails.  Some  such  band  of  God- 
touched  hearts  is  at  the  human  source  of 
every  important  religious  movement  of  the 
ages.  The  unit  of  power  in  every  case  is  a 
single  man  whose  heart  God  has  touched. 
The  single  man  at  Oxford  was  John  Wesley, 
at  Williams  College  was  Samuel  Mills,  in 
London  was  George  Williams.     The  history 


110  CHAPEL  TALKS 

of  every  significant  movement  in  the  realm 
of  morals  will  read  like  this :  God  touched 
the  heart  of  one  man  or  one  woman, — a 
woman  like  Jane  Addams  or  Frances  Willard 
or  Mary  Lyon — God  touched  one  life,  and 
that  life  drew  around  it  a  second  and  a  third, 
and  so  the  sacred  influence  spread,  a  holy  fire 
unquenched  and  unquenchable. 

A  significant  and  comprehensive  saying  is 
this, — God  had  touched  their  hearts.  It 
means  the  Divine  Spirit  had  touched  the  key 
of  all  motive,  the  spring  of  all  conduct.  In 
touching  their  hearts,  God  touched  their  lips 
to  speak,  their  minds  to  think,  their  wills  to 
act ;  He  touched  their  eyes,  giving  them  new 
powers  to  see  things  in  new  relations,  new 
correlations,  and  a  new  unity ;  He  touched 
their  hands,  strengthening  them  to  war  a 
good  warfare  ;  He  touched  their  feet,  armour- 
ing them  to  walk  strange,  hard  highways  of 
duty.  When  God  touches  a  human  heart  He 
recreates  that  life.  He  gives  us  no  new  fac- 
ulties, but  turns  all  the  old  faculties  to  new 
and  nobler  uses.  He  gives  us  new  light,  new 
hope,  new  vigour.  He  shifts  life's  center 
from  self  to  Christ.  And  there  is  nothing  in 
the  world  we  need  so  much  as  that.     Aa- 


THE  SAVING  FEW  m 

sociation  with  Christ,  identification  with  Him, 
participation  in  His  spiritually  imparted  im- 
pulses, will  make  new  men  and  women  of  us 
all.  An  unhappy  woman  said  to  her  physician, 
*'  I  am  utterly  miserable  and  dejected  ;  all  my 
friends  are  out  of  town.''  And  he,  a  modern 
Luke,  replied,  ''  I  have  a  Friend  who  never 
leaves  me."  He  of  whom  the  physician 
spoke  is  He  who  speaks  to  us,  who  touches 
our  hearts  and  says,  '*  Lo,  I  am  with  you  al- 
way,  even  unto  the  end,"— unto  the  end  of 
the  last  day  of  earthly  labour  and  the  last 
gleam  of  earthly  light 


IX 

The  Law  of  Liberty 

'*  Whoso  looketh  into  the  perfect  law  of  liberty, 
and  continueth  therein  y  he  being  not  a  forgetful 
hearer t  but  a  doer  of  the  work,  this  man  shall  be 
blessed  in  his  deed." — James  /.  2^. 

SOME  one  said  of  Daniel  Webster's  ora- 
tion at  Bunker  Hill  that  "  every  word 
weighed  a  ton."  There  are  a  few 
great  words  in  human  speech,  a  few  supremely 
great  words,  spacious  and  immeasurable. 
Liberty  is  one  of  them.  It  appears  early  in 
the  records  of  the  race,  and  is  responsible  for 
many  a  momentous  movement  in  history,  and 
many  an  institution  of  government  and 
society. 

Back  of  all  tribal,  provincial  and  national 
government  is  the  desire  for  Liberty.  Back 
of  all  social  and  political  movements  which 
have  swayed  masses  of  men  has  been  the 
purpose  to  secure  or  to  defend  human  rights. 
The  first  of  human  rights  is  liberty.  Our 
American  forefathers  in  their  immortal  Dec- 
laration name  life  first,  and  after  that  liberty 
112 


THE  LAW  OP  LIBERTY  113 

and  the  pursuit  of  happiness ;  but  life  itself 
has  no  value  without  liberty.  Multitudes  of 
men  have  counted  not  their  lives  dear  that 
they  might  win  liberty  for  their  children  and 
their  children's  children.  Nathan  Hale,  no- 
ble young  martyr  of  the  American  Revolu- 
tion, spoke  for  innumerable  numbers  of  our 
race  and  of  other  races  when  he  said,  "  I 
regret  only  that  I  have  but  one  life  to  give 
for  my  country."  It  is  not  to  be  denied 
that  many  have  fought  ignorantly,  blindly, 
fought  for  ideas  which  were  obnoxious  to 
liberty,  believing  that  they  were  fighting  for 
liberty.  This  argues  nothing  against  the 
worth  of  liberty.  It  simply  shows  how  fal- 
lible is  our  judgment,  how  partial  is  our 
knowledge,  how  strong  is  our  prejudice,  and 
how  false  may  be  our  education.  The  fact 
remains  that  there  is  no  other  idea  to  which 
we  cling  so  passionately  and  so  tenaciously 
as  to  liberty. 

But  there  is  another  great  word  in  our 
language,  another  word  of  vast  importance, 
and  that  is  Law.  It  is  almost  as  ancient  and 
altogether  as  honourable  a  word  as  Liberty. 
The  very  first  human  beings  that  appeared 
upon  the  planet  must  have  discovered,  early 


114  CHAPEL  TALKS 

in  their  history,  even  if  it  had  not  been  re- 
vealed to  them,  that  there  is  no  liberty  with- 
out law ;  that  liberty  and  law  cannot  be 
separated  ;  that  liberty  must  be  guided  and 
guarded  by  law,  and  that  law  must  be  sweet- 
ened by  liberty. 

If  there  were  only  one  man  on  earth  there 
would  not  be  so  much  need  for  law ;  there 
would  be  no  social  law,  no  civil  law.  There 
must  still  be  natural  law  and  spiritual  law, 
but  all  other  law  would  be  useless,  for  the 
necessity  for  social  and  civil  law  arises  out  of 
our  relationships.  In  order  to  have  deep  re- 
spect for  law,  one  must  consider  his  relation- 
ships, his  relation  to  God,  to  other  men,  to  the 
state,  and  to  society.  If  he  is  tempted  to 
overestimate  the  value  of  his  own  liberty, 
he  must  remember  that  other  men  are  en- 
titled to  their  liberty,  and  that  his  rights  cease 
when  they  collide  with  the  rights  of  others. 
So  it  is  law  which  safeguards  liberty.  If  law 
ever  limits  liberty,  it  is  at  the  point  where 
liberty,  unlimited,  ceases  to  be  liberty,  and 
becomes  lawless  license.  Lawless  liberty 
means  anarchy,  havoc,  ruin,  death. 

So  the  phrase,  **  The  law  of  liberty,*'  is  not 
a  contradiction.     Liberty  has  its  laws,  as  cer- 


THE  LAW  OF  LIBERTY  115 

tainly  as  property  has  its  laws,  or  inheritance, 
— as  life  itself  is  bounded  on  every  side  by  law. 

James,  in  this  verse,  employs  a  phrase 
which  is  not  applicable  to  any  body  of  law 
known  in  human  jurisprudence.  He  speaks 
of  a  perfect  law.  Where  shall  such  a  law  be 
found  ?  Not  in  the  Code  of  Solon  or  Lycur- 
gus ;  not  in  the  Roman  Law  or  the  Code 
Napoleon  ;  not  in  the  English  Commpn  Law, 
nor  in  our  Federal  Constitution  ;  not  in  the 
statutes  of  our  state,  or  of  our  city.  The  his- 
tory of  legislation  is  a  history  of  compro- 
mise and  repeal.  The  Court  of  Appeals  in 
New  York  was  formerly  called  the  Court  for 
the  Correction  of  Errors. 

There  is  but  one  law  of  which  it  may  be 
said  it  is  perfect,  and  that  is  contained  in  the 
Holy  Scriptures.  It  is  not  the  Mosaic  Law, 
though  that  was  the  best  possible  code  for 
the  age  in  which  it  was  given.  The  Levit- 
ical  Law  was  neither  universal  in  its  applica- 
tion nor  permanent  in  its  operation.  It  was 
imperfect,  incomplete.  Christ  came  to  com- 
plete it.  He  said,  *'  I  am  come  to  fulfill  the 
Law."  An  Apostle  says,  *'  The  law  was  our 
schoolmaster  to  lead  us  to  Christ."  A  school- 
master is  helpful  for  a  time,  but  we  do  not 


116  CHAPEL  TALKS 

take  our  schoolmasters  with  us  through  life. 
We  leave  our  text-books  behind  us  when  we 
graduate.  The  laws  of  the  schoolroom  no 
longer  bind  us  when  we  become  men  and 
women,  but  they  are  of  value  to  us  in  so  far 
as  they  have  helped  us  to  acquire  power  to 
meet  and  master  the  problems  of  life. 

The  perfect  law  of  liberty,  and  the  only 
perfect  law,  is  that  of  Christ.  Briefly  stated, 
it  is  the  Law  of  Love.  This  is  His  form  of  it : 
**  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  .  .  . 
and  thy  neighbour  as  thyself."  This  is  the 
royal  law,  incomparable  and  divine. 

What  is  it  to  look  into  a  law  ?  Vastly 
more  than  appears  at  first  thought.  It  is 
one  thing  to  look  at  an  object,  and  quite  an- 
other thing  to  look  into  it.  The  one  is  done 
by  a  mere  glance,  a  single  reading ;  the  other 
is  the  result  of  a  steadfast  gaze,  a  meditation, 
a  thorough  and  persistent  study. 

The  Apostle's  word  for  "  looketh "  means 
to  stoop  down  and  look  intently,  to  search 
as  the  woman  in  the  parable  searched  for  her 
lost  coin,  to  gaze  as  the  disciples  gazed  into 
the  empty  sepulchre,  to  concentrate  the  vision 
as  gold-seekers  do  when  they  bend  above  a 
brook   to   catch  the  glitter  of  yellow  sand. 


THE  LAW  OF  LIBEETY  117 

Beautiful  suggestion  of  prayer  is  in  this  word, 
for  they  bend  low  to  gaze  into  the  meaning 
of  the  spiritual  world  who  bow  the  knee  and 
bend  the  head  in  prayer. 

The  difference  between  the  forgetful  hearer 
of  the  law  and  the  careful  looker  into  the  law 
is  the  difference  between  one  who  stands  out- 
side a  palace  on  a  winter  night,  shivering  in 
the  street,  content  with  the  light  that  shines 
through  the  windows,  and  one  who  enters 
the  palace,  greets  the  host,  and  is  greeted  as 
a  guest,  to  whom  the  light,  the  warmth,  the 
music  are  all  his  own. 

How  many  kinds  of  hearers  there  are  I 
There  is  the  casual  hearer,  who  drops  in 
merely  to  see  what  is  going  on  ;  there  is  the 
preoccupied  hearer  whose  thoughts  are  far 
away  and  fixed  on  other  things ;  there  is  the 
prejudiced  hearer  whose  mind  is  already 
made  up ;  and  there  are  the  sleepy  hearer, 
the  indifferent  hearer,  the  stupid  hearer,  the 
shallow  hearer,  and  the  hardened  hearer  who 
hears  the  truth  as  a  thrice-told  tale  and 
turns  to  his  feast  again. 

The  "continual  doer'*  is  a  very  different 
kind  of  a  hearer.  He  gives  himself  to  wor- 
ship on  Sunday  as  seriously  as  to  business 


118  CHAPEL  TALKS 

on  Monday.  He  is  not  preoccupied.  He  is 
not  prejudiced.  He  is  willing  to  accept  truth 
from  any  man's  lips.  He  is  not  indifferent, 
knowing  that  more  than  life  depends  upon 
"whether  these  things  be  true."  When  he 
hears  the  truth,  he  inwardly  accepts  it  and 
asks  himself,  "  What  difference  shall  this 
truth  make  in  my  life  ?  "  He  begins  to  think 
differently  at  some  point  of  contact  with  the 
world,  and  so  the  truth  is  translated  into 
experience.  His  attitude  is  one  of  eager  ex- 
pectation,— **  I  will  hear  what  God,  the  Lord, 
will  speak." 

This  man,  the  continual  doer,  shall  be 
"blessed  in  his  deed."  Rather,  he  shall  be 
"  blessed  in  his  doing."  The  very  doing  of  the 
truth  blesses  him.  He  knows  the  sweetness 
of  harmony  with  law.  He  has  the  peerless 
pleasure  of  a  contented  mind.  Peace  whis- 
pers to  his  soul,  *'  All  shall  be  well  with  thee," 
and  night  and  day  there  rings  through  the 
chamber  of  his  memory  such  a  song  as  this : 

"So  long  Thy  power  hath  blessed  me, 
Sure  it  still  will  lead  me  on, 
O'er  moor  and  fen,  o'er  crag  and  torrent, 
Till  the  night  is  gone ; 
And  with  the  morn  those  angel  faces  smile 
Which  1  have  loved  long  since  and  lost  a  while." 


THE  LAW  OF  LIBEETY  119 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  Emphatic 
Version  gives  this  reading  of  the  text :  "  He 
that  hath  obtained  a  nearer  view  into  the 
perfect  law  of  liberty,  and  takes  up  his  abode 
in  it,  becoming  not  a  forgetful  hearer,  but  a 
work-doer,  shall  be  happy  in  his  doing." 
Happiness  is  not  the  end  of  life,  by  any 
means.  Yet,  in  the  estimation  of  most  of  us, 
the  pursuit  of  happiness  is  one  of  our  inalien- 
able human  rights,  second  only  to  liberty. 

Rightly  defined,  happiness  is  well  worth 
seeking.  Life  is  short.  The  earth  is  not  a 
prison  house.  God's  sunshine  beckons  us  to 
joy.  Burdened  as  we  all  are,  no  one  of  us 
need  be  like  a  galley  slave  scourged  to  his 
dungeon.  William  Morris  was  right  when 
he  spoke  of  the  "curse  of  joyless  labour." 
George  Eliot  was  inspired  by  highest  truth 
when  she  put  upon  the  lips  of  the  old  Italian 
violin-maker,  **If  I  slack  my  hand,  I  rob 
God ;  God  could  not  do  His  work  without 
me."  The  looker  into  the  perfect  law  of 
liberty,  the  unforgetful  hearer,  the  doer  of 
the  work  of  God,  will  never  know  the  bit- 
terness of  joyless  labour.  He  knows  his 
work  is  constructive  and  hence  indestruc- 
tible.    No  man's  labour  is  ever  in  vain,  if  it 


120  CHAPEL  TALKS 

be  in  the  Lord.  Moreover,  he  knows  his 
work  is  benevolent.  That  is  to  say,  it  is 
genuine.  And  however  it  may  lack  variety, 
it  need  never  grow  irksome  because  of  its 
monotony. 

♦*  The  common  round,  the  trivial  task, 
Will  furnish  all  we  ought  to  ask, — 
Room  to  deny  ourselves,  a  road 
To  lead  us  daily  nearer  God." 

The  day  of  wireless  speech  has  dawned. 
The  other  day  a  human  voice  leaped  across 
a  space  of  more  than  four  thousand  miles. 
Yet  none  of  those  between  the  speaker  and 
the  hearer  heard  the  message  that  trembled 
in  the  air.  Instrument  must  be  in  tune  with 
instrument,  and  atmospheric  conditions  must 
be  favourable.  The  Bible  is  full  of  voices, 
God's  voices,  but  only  those  who  listen  hear. 
Life  is  full  of  voices,  God's  voices,  but  only 
those  who  are  in  tune  with  the  Infinite  catch 
the  sound.  This  is  our  task  to-day, — to 
hear ;  and  henceforth,  "  to  do,  to  be,  to  learn 
to  do  without,  and  to  depart."  Whether  we 
hear  and  do  God's  word,  or  whether  it  falls 
upon  dull  ears  and  dormant  spirits  is  a  mat- 
ter of  life  and  death,   of  bliss  and  blight. 


THE  LAW  OF  LIBEETY  121 

Multitudinous  voices  of  earth  speak  to  the 
beast  in  us.  God  speaks  to  the  best.  The 
beast  is  contented  with  the  sty.  The  best 
within  us  yearns  upward  to  the  sky. 

Balzac  in  **  Seraphitus "  raises  a  most  in- 
teresting inquiry.  He  says,  "  Why  is  it  that 
we  are  appalled  when  we  stand  on  the  brink 
of  a  precipice  and  look  down,  and  have  no  fear 
at  all  when  we  look  up  even  into  infinite 
space  ?  "  You  may  say,  because  we  may  fall 
down  but  are  in  no  danger  of  faUing  up  1 
That  is  not  the  reason.  We  belong  up  there. 
There  is  our  home.  There  we  are  going  in  a 
little  while.  The  best  within  us  yearns  up- 
wards. 

A  modern  poet  gives  us  a  startling  phrase. 
He  speaks  of  "a  leaning  voice."  That  is, 
a  voice  which  by  its  tone,  its  accent,  its  ten- 
derness, says,  "Come."  God's  Word  leans 
towards  us.  God's  Spirit  bends  above  us — 
broods  over  us.  May  our  ears  be  open  to 
His  message  this,  and  every  day  I 


X 

Saving  Others  and  Saving  One's  Self 

"  He  saved  others.  Himself  He  cannot  save^ 
— Matthew  xxvii.  ^2, 

MANY  were  the  unconscious  proph- 
ecies pointing  to  Christ.  Many 
were  the  unintentional  tributes  to 
His  goodness  and  His  greatness.  The  cen- 
turion who  exclaimed,  "Truly  this  was  the 
Son  of  God,"  the  procurator  who  declared, 
"I  find  no  fault  in  Him,"  and  the  Roman 
woman  who  spoke  of  Him  as  "  that  just  Per- 
son," all  paid  undesigned  tribute  to  the  ex- 
traordinary character  of  Jesus.  The  first  half 
of  this  text  is  such  a  tribute.  They  who 
spoke  it  did  so  in  mockery,  but  without  in- 
tending to  do  so,  they  spoke  the  absolute 
truth.  The  second  half  of  the  text  is  not 
true.  It  is  one  of  the  falsehoods  of  the  Bible. 
We  do  not  discredit  the  Book  when  we  say 
that  it  contains  falsehoods.  In  the  Book  of  Job 
we  read,  **  All  that  a  man  hath  will  he  give 
122 


SAVING  OTHEES  123 

in  exchange  for  his  life."  It  is  not  so.  Mul- 
titudes of  people  hold  spiritual  and  moral 
possessions  of  far  greater  value  than  their 
lives.  It  was  the  devil  who  said  that,  and  he 
has  been  a  liar  from  the  beginning. 

Even  devils  do  sometimes  tell  the  truth,  by 
accident.  These  evil-minded  men  did  when, 
at  the  foot  of  the  Cross,  they  railed  at  Jesus 
and  mocked  Him  saying,  "He  saved  others.*' 
They  told  the  truth  when  they  wrote  above 
the  Cross,  "Jesus  of  Nazareth,  King  of  the 
Jews."  They  were  true  to  the  spirit  of  Him 
they  crucified  when  they  wrote  it  in  Hebrew, 
Greek  and  Latin,  prophetic  of  the  kingship 
of  Jesus  over  the  triple  empire  of  religion,  art 
and  law.  So,  considered  as  a  whole,  half  of 
the  text  is  true,  and  half  is  false. 

How  true  it  was — and  is — that  Jesus  saved 
others  !  His  relation  to  all  who  came  within 
the  range  of  His  ministry  is  comprehensively 
set  forth  in  these  words, — He  saved  them. 
He  saved  Matthew  and  Zacchaeus  from  a 
soul-withering  occupation.  He  saved  Peter 
from  selfish  ambition  and  inconstancy.  He 
saved  Philip  from  materialism, — Philip,  the 
man  who  said,  "  I  want  to  see  the  Father." 
He  saved  Thomas  from    his    doubts.     He 


124  CHAPEL  TALKS 

saved  Nicodemus  from  idle  speculation  as  to 
the  basis  of  the  spiritual  life.  He  saved 
Martha  and  Mary  from  needless  grief, — from 
faithless  grief.  He  saved  Lazarus,  the 
widow's  son  of  Nain,  and  the  little  daughter 
of  Jairus  from  the  power  of  death.  He  saved 
Mary  Magdalene  from  the  domination  of  evil 
spirits.  Besides  these  there  were  many  He 
saved  from  lifelong  darkness,  and  lifelong 
silence,  and  hopeless  lameness,  and  incurable 
leprosy.  They  were  right  who  said,  "He 
saved  others." 

The  wonderful  thing  is  that,  after  His  cruci- 
fixion and  His  subsequent  disappearance 
from  earth,  that  work  went  right  on.  Some- 
how, He  saved  His  disciples  from  a  sense  of 
defeat  in  His  death.  Only  for  a  night  did 
their  weeping  endure.  Joy  came  in  the 
morning.  He  saved  every  one  of  them  from 
believing  that  death  ends  all.  Years  go  by 
and  men  and  women  rise  up  on  every  hand 
to  testify  how  they  have  been  saved :  Paul 
and  Poly  carp,  John  and  Justin  Martyr,  Basil 
and  Clement  of  Alexandria.  Before  the  world 
is  well  aware  of  it  there  is  a  new  word  in  the 
lexicon,  there  is  a  new  song  in  the  air.  That 
word  is  salvation,  and  that  song  exalts  Jesus 


SAVING  OTHEES  125 

as  the  Saviour  of  all  who  put  their  trust  in 
Him. 

There  is  no  doubt  this  is  the  great  word 
of  religion.  Read  the  New  Testament ;  read 
Christian  hymnology.  They  are  both  full  of 
it.  It  has  not  always  been  so.  The  Psalms 
were  the  hymns  of  the  old  faith.  Is  salvation 
there  ?  Oh,  yes,  but  often  it  is  mere  safety, 
physical  safety,  circumstantial  safety.  But  in 
the  New  Testament,  and  in  modern  religious 
literature,  salvation  is  no  narrow  term.  It 
includes  all  that  Jesus  Christ  does  for  us, — all 
He  ever  has  done  or  ever  can  do,  for  indi- 
viduals, for  society,  and  for  the  world. 

If  I  speak  of  the  saviour  of  Poland,  you 
think  of  John  Sobieski.  If  I  speak  of  the 
saviour  of  Sweden  you  think  of  Gustavus 
Adolphus.  If  I  speak  of  the  saviour  of  the 
Union,  you  think  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  But 
if  I  speak  of  your  Saviour,  of  the  Saviour  of 
the  world,  instantly  you  think  of  Jesus.  So 
it  seems  as  though  sneering,  scornful,  jeal- 
ous, bloody  men  gave  Jesus  His  true  title, — 
Saviour. 

I  have  already  intimated  in  speaking  of  the 
various  persons  who  came  into  particular  re- 
lationship with  Jesus,  how  salvation  meant 


126  CHAPEL  TALKS 

one  thing  to  one  person,  and  another  thing 
to  another  person.  Yet  it  was  the  same 
Power  deahng  with  them ;  and  in  the  end. 
the  result  was  identical, — spiritual  rest  and 
spiritual  power.  This  same  fact  holds  good 
throughout  history.  There  is  an  old  legend 
that  the  manna  that  fell  in  the  Wilderness 
tasted  to  each  person  who  partook  of  it  ex- 
actly like  the  food  which  at  that  time  he  most 
craved.  It  is  a  parable  of  the  grace  of  God 
which  brings  to  each  of  us  the  kind  of  salva- 
tion he  most  needs. 

Is  there  more  than  one  kind  of  salvation  ? 
No,  but  it  is  like  this :  Whence  comes  the 
beautiful  hue  of  the  violet  which  soon  will 
colour  the  woodlands?  Whence  come  the 
delicate  saffron  of  the  daffodil,  the  deep  red 
of  the  crimson  rambler,  the  rich  purple  of  the 
pansy  ?  All  come  from  the  same  sun.  But 
each  plant  absorbs  those  qualities  of  the  sun- 
light which  the  unreasoning  nature  of  its  own 
organism  lays  hold  on.  The  same  sun,  but 
various  colours.  It  is  so  in  the  gardens  of 
our  souls.  One  life  lays  hold  on  this,  and 
another  on  that  element  in  the  wonderful  light 
that  streams  upon  us  from  the  source  of  spir- 
itual life  and  light. 


SAVING  OTHERS  127 

Salvation  meant  the  same  thing  exactly  to 
Martha  and  to  Mary,  but  to  one  it  came  by 
ministering  to  Jesus,  and  to  the  other  it  came 
by  adoring  Him.  A  father  has  two  daugh- 
ters. When  he  comes  home  at  night,  weary 
with  the  labour  of  the  day,  Agnes  runs  to 
him,  embraces  and  kisses  him,  and  he  is  no 
sooner  seated  than  she  is  sitting  on  his  knees, 
while  Marion  unties  his  shoes,  and  gets  his 
slippers,  and  performs  a  dozen  pleasant  and 
restful  little  services  which  add  to  his  com- 
fort. What  a  dear  father  he  is !  And  what 
dear  daughters  he  has  I  Who  shall  say 
which  of  the  two  loves  him  the  better  ?  And 
no  one  can  say  which  of  the  two  he  loves  the 
better.  But  his  love  means  one  thing  to 
Agnes,  and  another  to  Mary.  It  was  so  with 
the  two  of  Bethany.  Jesus  spoke  to  Martha 
— what  He  was  spoke  to  her,  and  she  heard 
but  one  word,  Duty.  Jesus  spoke  to  Mary, 
and  she  heard  only, — Worship,  Adoration. 

Jesus  spoke  to  the  rich  young  ruler.  And 
the  young  man  heard  the  great  rugged  word, 
Surrender,  and  it  terrified  him.  But  to  Nico- 
demus  Jesus  spoke,  and  all  He  seemed  to  say 
was,  **  Cease  to  strive  ;  cease  to  perform  ;  turn 
from  dead  formalism,  and  enter  into  the  lib- 


128  CHAPEL  TALKS 

erty  of  a  living  spirit."  The  end  was  the 
same,  but  the  process  differed  according  to 
the  history  and  temperament  of  the  inquirer. 

What  do  you  suppose  salvation  meant  to 
the  Samaritan  woman?  To  live  a  well  or- 
dered and  lawful  life.  What  to  the  man  at 
Bethesda's  pool?  To  cease  from  sin,  and 
from  despair.  What  did  it  mean  to  the  leper  ? 
To  show  himself  to  the  priest  and  go  back  to 
his  family  a  restored  man.  Need  we  pursue 
this  thought?  Jesus  saves  by  no  inflexibly 
fixed  process  or  act  of  form  or  reform.  What 
each  needed  to  live  his  natural  life  to  the  full- 
est possible  degree  was  what  Jesus  furnished ; 
in  one  case  cleansing,  in  another  honesty,  in 
another  courage,  and  in  another  simple  devo- 
tion to  simple  unattractive  duty.  It  is  so  to- 
day. Jesus  saves.  I  believe  it  with  all  my 
soul.  If  I  did  not,  I  should  cease  my  minis- 
try before  this  sermon  is  ended.  But  it  takes 
one  element  of  spiritual  power  to  save  some 
of  us,  and  another  element  to  save  others. 

There  are  those  who  need  to  be  saved 
from  great  ambition,  and  there  are  those 
who  need  to  be  saved  from  mean  ambition. 
There  are  those  who  need  to  be  saved  from 
secret  sin,  and  those  who  need  to  be  saved 


SAYIIs^G  OTHEES  129 

from  presumptuous  sin.  Some  of  us  must 
be  delivered  from  falsehood  and  some  from 
covetousness.  Self-pride  is  the  curse  of  some 
hearts  and  self-reproach  the  curse  of  others. 
One  needs  to  be  delivered  from  fear,  and  an- 
other from  doubt.  Unreasoning  optimism 
is  the  fatal  fault  of  one  and  unreasoning 
pessimism  of  another.  But  it  is  the  one 
omnipotent  Christ  who  can  save  us  all.  And 
the  one  thing  we  all  need  to  be  saved  from 
is  ourselves. 

True,  sublimely  and  incontestably  true  is 
it,  "  He  saved  others.'*  False,  and  can  we 
not  see  how  false  it  was,  "  Himself  He 
cannot  save"?  Cannot?  Who  was  He? 
From  the  beginning  He  was  with  God,  and 
He  was  God.  All  things  were  made  by 
Him,  land  and  sea,  sun  and  stars.  He  said, 
'*  Let  there  be  light,"  and  there  was  light. 
Master  of  Nature's  hidden  and  revealed 
forces,  King  of  all  kings,  and  Lord  of  all 
lords,  yet  **  He  cannot  save  Himself  1 " 
Saints  and  angels  call  Him  Saviour,  yet 
"He  cannot  save  Himself  I"  Nay,  rather 
write  it,  "Himself  He  would  not  save." 
The  divine  passion  was  upon  Him,  and  He 
must  not  save  Himself. 


130  CHAPEL  TALKS 

What  if  Jesus  had  saved  Himself  by  refusal 
to  bear  our  griefs  and  carry  our  sorrows? 
What  if  He  had  saved  Himself  by  force  or 
cunning  ?  Perish  the  thought,  for  then  must 
we  save  ourselves,  or  perish.  The  captain 
of  the  sinking  ship  at  midnight  on  the  North 
Sea  could  have  saved  himself,  but  he  would 
not  until  the  last  boat  had  been  lowered,  and 
then  there  was  no  room  for  him.  The  martyr 
could  have  saved  himself  by  renouncing  one 
of  his  absurd  enthusiasms,  but  if  he  had, 
human  history  had  been  the  poorer.  There 
are  ways  of  saving  ourselves,  but  no  man 
whose  safety  is  his  chief  thought  is  worth 
saving.  The  race  has  risen  in  the  scale  of 
honour  by  vicarious  suffering.  There  is  a 
law  of  atonement  running  all  through  the 
noblest  literature  and  the  noblest  life.  Shall 
we  whose  civil  and  religious  rights,  yea,  we, 
whose  very  material  comforts  have  been 
secured  to  us  by  the  outpouring  of  others* 
blood,  turn  from  the  Christian  doctrine  of 
atonement,  and  from  the  Cross  on  which  He 
died,  "the  Just  for  the  unjust  that  He  might 
bring  us  to  God  "  ? 

Professor  Huxley  wrote  to  John  Morley  in 
the  early  nineties  of  the  last  century  :    **  The 


SAVING  OTHEES  131 

thought  comes  to  me  sometimes  and  stuns 
me,  I  shall  probably  know  as  little  of  what 
the  world  is  doing  in  1900  as  I  did  in  1800. 
The  thought  oppresses  me.  Are  you  ever 
troubled  so  ? "  Ah,  the  passing  years  will 
push  us  off  these  shores.  Other  generations 
shall  come  to  take  our  places.  Shall  the 
passing  years  carry  men  away  from  Christ 
and  His  salvation  ?  Never.  To  the  utter- 
most of  space  and  need  and  time,  He  is  the 
Power  of  God  unto  salvation. 

"  God  may  have  other  words  for  other  worlds, 
But  for  this  world  the  word  of  God  is  Christ.'* 

The  great  thing,  the  immediate  thing  for 
us  to  know  is  that  here  and  now  Jesus  has 
saved  and  is  saving  us  from  every  act  and 
from  every  view  of  life  which  is  unworthy 
our  character  as  the  children  of  God.  Now, 
while  it  is  yet  day ;  now,  while  the  blood  is 
yet  red  in  our  pulses ;  now,  while  there  is 
a  good  fight  to  fight,  and  a  good  confession 
to  be  witnessed ;  here,  where  there  is  so 
much  to  be  done  in  His  Name ;  here,  where 
righteous  causes  are  calling  for  recruits ; 
here,  where  there  is  a  place  in  the  church  for 
every   one   of  us  among  God's  people  and 


132  CHAPEL  TALKS 

Christ's  disciples, — now  and  here,  it  is  pos- 
sible for  us  to  know  better  than  we  know  any 
earthly  fact,  that  Jesus  Christ  saves  us,  even 
though  He  would  not  save  Himself, — saves 
us  because  He  would  not  save  Himself. 
Now  and  here  it  is  for  us  to  follow  in  His 
train  and  strive  before  the  evening  comes,  to 
be,  each  of  us  in  his  sphere,  a  saviour  of 
others  ;  a  helper  and  a  servant  and  a  soldier 
of  human  welfare  and  the  common  good. 


XI 

The  Wonderful  Book 

(^Address  on  presenting  Bibles  to  members  of 
the  graduating  class  of  the  West  Point  Military 
Academy t  April  y,  IQIS') 

IT  may  be  doubted  whether  there  is  any 
other  great  book  except  the  Bible  with 
which  many  otherwise  well-educated 
people  are  so  imperfectly  acquainted.  It  is 
needless  now  to  enter  into  an  explanation  of 
the  fact,  but  fact  it  is,  that  multitudes  of  col- 
lege students  and  college  graduates  are  in- 
credibly ignorant  of  the  Scriptures  as  litera- 
ture. President  Thwing,  of  Western  Reserve 
University,  in  a  recent  magazine  article  has 
given  some  astonishing  instances  of  popular 
ignorance  concerning  the  Bible  among  col- 
lege students.  Some  of  these  would  be 
amusing  if  they  were  not  shameful.  For  ex- 
ample, one  student,  in  answer  to  the  question, 
"What  relation  is  there  between  the  Old 
Testament  and  the  New  ?"  replied,  "  I  think 
of  none  except  that  the  Aposde  Peter  cut  off 
133 


134  CHAPEL  TALKS 

the  right  ear  of  a  servant  of  the  prophet 
Malachi."  This  answer  was  quite  as  credit- 
able as  that  of  a  little  coloured  boy  in  a 
Southern  Sunday-school,  who  said,  in  reply 
to  the  question,  "  What  is  the  difference  be- 
tween the  Old  Testament  and  the  New  Testa- 
ment ?  '^  "  De  Old  Testament  was  writ  befo' 
de  wah,  and  de  New  Testament  was  writ 
aftah  de  wah."  A  professor  of  English  Lit- 
erature in  one  of  our  leading  universities  re- 
lates that  more  than  half  of  the  members  of 
a  certain  class  whom  he  examined  as  to  their 
knowledge  of  the  Bible  were  unable  to  ex- 
plain such  references  as  these,  "  the  smitten 
rock/'  **  the  ark  of  the  covenant,"  "Jephtha's 
vow,"  and  "  the  Feast  of  the  Tabernacles." 
Three-fourths  of  the  members  of  the  class 
were  unable  to  give  a  single  fact  about  such 
names  as  Melchizedek,  Naaman  and  Nathan- 
ael.  Several  confused  Saul  of  Israel  with 
Saul  of  Tarsus,  and  not  a  few  thought  John 
the  Baptist  and  John  the  Apostle  were  the 
same. 

Knowing  how  largely  your  Bible  study 
classes  have  been  attended,  I  have  no  fear 
that  any  of  you  are  guilty  of  such  ignorance 
of  the  Bible.     And  yet,  not  from  the  view- 


THE  WONDERFUL  BOOK  135 

point  of  the  professional  teacher  of  religion, 
much  less  from  the  view-point  of  an  assumed 
superiority  of  knowledge,  but  from  the  view- 
point of  a  fellow-student  of  literature  and  a 
fellow-seeker  after  the  truth,  I  plead  for  a 
more  thorough  knowledge  of  these  Holy 
Scriptures.  The  venerable  Schleiermacher 
once  held  up  a  copy  of  the  Greek  New  Tes- 
tament before  a  class  in  the  University  of 
Berlin  and  said,  "Young  gentlemen,  this 
little  volume  contains  more  that  is  of  vital 
interest  to  humanity  than  all  the  other 
writings  of  antiquity  put  together."  (Yet 
Schleiermacher  knew  his  Plato  as  well  as  he 
knew  his  New  Testament.) 

Practically  all  I  have  to  say  to  you  to-day 
is  in  vindication  of  just  such  a  view  of  the 
Bible  as  Schleiermacher  expressed.  Upon 
what  facts  does  the  value  of  the  Bible  rest, — 
its  practical  value  to  the  modern  man  ? 

First,  it  is  a  book  of  laws.  We  cannot 
have  a  kingdom  without  laws,  whether  it  be 
an  organic  or  inorganic  kingdom.  The 
Bible  is  chiefly  related  to  the  Kingdom  of 
God.  The  laws  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  are 
nowhere  else  so  fully  and  so  clearly  stated  as 
here.     The  first  of  these  laws,  so  far  as  our 


136  CHAPEL  TALKS 

relation  to  the  Kingdom  of  God  is  concerned, 
is  the  law  of  loyalty.  Dr.  Josiah  Royce  calls 
Christianity  "a  religion  of  loyalty."  We 
cannot  take  our  first  step  towards  the  King- 
dom of  God  without  obedience  to  this  law  of 
loyalty.  Loyalty  to  what  ?  Loyalty  to  the 
truth ;  that  is,  to  the  truth  relatively,  not  ab- 
solutely ;  the  truth  as  we  see  it.  Every  other 
law  in  obedience  to  which  the  soul  grows  in 
the  qualities  of  kinship  to  God  is  in  this  Book 
laid  down  and  enforced  by  admonition  and 
example. 

Laws,  so  far  as  they  relate  to  human  so- 
ciety, exist  for  the  purpose  of  defining  and 
securing  human  rights.  So  the  Bible  is  also 
a  book  of  rights.  Democracy  flourishes  in 
the  path  of  this  book.  Benjamin  Kidd,  in 
his  **  Social  Evolution,"  reminds  us  that 
"  from  the  view-point  of  science  there  are  no 
superior  races ;  the  white  race  is  what  it  is 
because  there  has  been  wrought  into  it  a  body 
of  truths,  ideas,  sentiments,  immediately  due 
to  Christianity,  which  have  made  it  strong, 
productive,  progressive."  This  is  in  entire 
accord  with  a  recent  pronouncement  of  Count 
Okuma,  the  Japanese  Premier,  who  said  at 
the  celebration  of  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of 


THE  WONDEEFUL  BOOK  137 

the  beginning  of  Christian  missions  in  Japan, 
"  Modern  civilization  has  its  rise  in  the 
teachings  of  the  Sage  of  Judea,  in  whom 
alone  is  found  the  dynamic  of  moral  prog- 
ress." 

But  every  human  right  has  its  correspond- 
ing duty.  No  man  is  entitled  to  claim  his 
rights  who  does  not  discharge  his  correspond- 
ing obligations.  So  the  Bible  is  a  book  of 
duties. 

It  is  a  book  of  visions.  The  ideal,  in  the 
abstract,  has  litde  power  of  appeal.  But  let 
that  ideal  be  embodied  in  human  conduct, 
and  it  evokes  our  utmost  admiration  and, 
given  us  an  adequate  motive,  it  commands 
our  earnest  endeavour.  The  vision  of  per- 
sonal and  social  righteousness  as  presented 
in  the  Holy  Scriptures  rises  before  us  like  a 
vision  of  perfect  beauty  beckoning  us  to  fol- 
low until  we  make  it  ours. 

The  Bible  is  a  book  of  warnings.  The 
green  light  of  caution,  the  red  light  of  dan- 
ger and  the  white  light  of  safety  flash  out  of 
these  pages  so  plainly  that  he  who  runs 
may  read.  A  dozen  years  ago  one  of  the 
most  brilliant  of  English  essayists,  dramatists 
and  poets  died  in  exile  and  was  buried  in  a 


138  CHAPEL  TALKS 

foreign  land  by  the  hands  of  charity.  One 
of  his  last  literary  works  was  a  poem,  which 
for  tragic  depth  of  feeling  is  almost  unex- 
celled in  modern  letters.     In  it  he  says : 

"They  never  win  who  play  with  sin 
In  the  secret  house  of  shame." 

And  again  in  describing  a  felon's  death  he 
wrote : 

"For  he  who  lives  more  lives  than  one, 
More  deaths  than  one  must  die." 

These  words  are  in  entire  accord  with  the 
admonitions  of  this  Book. 

The  Bible  is  a  book  of  battles.  It  is  pre- 
eminently the  soldier's  book.  It  is  full  of 
militant  figures.  It  presents  life  under  the 
aspect  of  a  battle.  For  this  reason  it  has 
appealed  to  intellects  like  that  of  Stonewall 
Jackson,  who  in  the  midst  of  the  Civil  War 
said,  "  I  pray  that  this  war  may  soon  cease, 
that  we  may  return  to  our  divine  task  of 
winning  men  to  Christ ; "  to  characters  like 
that  of  General  "  Chinese  "  Gordon,  a  knight 
without  reproach,  who  upon  leaving  London 
for  his  last  mission  on  earth,  in  the  Sudan, 
wrote  a  friend,  "  I  would  rather  have  the 
prayers  of  the  litde  company  of  people  gath- 


THE  WONDEEFUL  BOOK  139 

ered  in  your  house  to-night  than  be  emperor 
of  the  earth ; "  to  souls  like  that  of  David 
Livingstone,  who  died  upon  his  knees  in  the 
shelter  of  a  little  hut  in  Africa.  David  Liv- 
ingstone at  the  age  of  nine  won  a  copy  of 
the  New  Testament  as  a  prize  for  having 
repeated  the  entire  119th  Psalm  on  two  suc- 
cessive evenings  with  only  five  verbal  errors. 
The  Bible  was  his  unfailing  guide  through 
life. 

It  is  a  book  of  peace.  Gilbert  K.  Chester- 
ton says  of  Robert  Louis  Stevenson,  "If  he 
had  but  two  hours  out  of  five  free  from  pain, 
he  counted  the  two  hours  and  took  no  note 
of  the  three.'*  That  was  R.  L.  S.'s  law  of 
life, — "  I  mark  only  the  hours  that  are  serene." 
The  secret  of  the  achievement  of  such  a  con- 
ception of  life  is  very  plain  to  him  who  reads 
the  "  Prayers  at  Vailima."  They  are  the 
psalms  of  a  serene  spirit. 

Petrarch  speaks  of  the  five  great  enemies 
of  peace  as  avarice,  ambition,  envy,  anger 
and  pride.  This  Book  is  the  enemy  of  these 
enemies  of  peace. 

The  Bible  is  a  book  of  right  perspectives. 
It  gives  pleasure  and  duty  each  its  proper 
place  in   the   scheme   of   life.     It  puts  first 


140  CHAPEL  TALKS 

things  first.  It  defines  the  right  order  of 
conduct  and  reveals  the  right  value  of  the 
various  elements  that  enter  into  human  ex- 
istence. There  is  a  great  difference  between 
a  landscape  by  a  Japanese  artist  and  one  by 
a  Western  artist.  A  Japanese  picture  totally 
lacks  perspective.  Some  people's  view  of  life 
is  exactly  like  that.  They  are  not  aware  of 
the  "  illusion  of  the  near."  The  present  fills 
their  horizon  to  the  utter  exclusion  of  the 
future.  The  Bible  leads  us  to  look  at  life 
with  a  certain  sense  of  detachment.  We 
must  sometimes  leave  the  world  to  get 
strength  to  live  in  it.  We  must  view  tem- 
poral things  under  the  aspect  of  eternity. 
This  Book  helps  us  to  do  that. 

The  Bible  is  a  book  of  sentiment.  Some 
so-called  practical  people  disparage  senti- 
ment, but  high  souls  live  in  it.  Wordsworth 
says,  "We  live  by  admiration,  hope  and 
love."  These  are  mere  sentiments.  It  is 
sentiment  which  gives  value  to  the  Victoria 
Cross.  The  mere  metal  in  a  Victoria  Cross 
is  worth  just  six  cents,  but  the  Victoria  Cross 
is  worth  the  price  of  a  king's  ransom.  Great 
souls  are  not  indifferent  to  the  value  of  sen- 
timent.    Charles   Lamb  wrote  to  Coleridge 


THE  WONDEEFUL  BOOK  141 

from  his  desk  in  the  East  India  House,  "I 
am  all  alone  here.  There  are  plenty  of  clerks 
in  the  office,  but  nobody  cares  for  poetry, 
nobody  reads  the  New  Testament.  So  I  can 
only  converse  with  you  by  letter.'' 

The  Bible  is  a  book  of  truth.  It  does  not 
at  once  begin  to  dawn  upon  the  reader  of 
the  Holy  Scriptures  that  its  end  is  to  reveal 
to  us  the  truth.  We  familiarize  our  minds 
with  its  content,  and  some  day  there  comes  a 
moment  of  revelation  that  the  purpose  of  it 
all  is  to  make  us  free  in  the  knowledge  of  the 
truth, — the  truth  with  reference  to  God  and 
ourselves.  Most  of  us  are  very  slow  to  ap- 
prehend moral  truth.  Perhaps  it  is  in  the 
nature  of  truth  itself  to  produce  its  effect 
upon  us  by  evolution  rather  than  by  revolu- 
tion. Sir  Michael  Faraday  discovered  that 
gold,  heavy  as  it  is,  is  very  slow  to  sink.  A 
solution  of  gold  in  a  shallow  vessel,  in  his 
experiment,  took  months  before  it  perfectly 
precipitated. 

The  Bible  is  a  book  of  life.  A  great  artist 
painted  a  picture  under  the  dome  of  an  Ital- 
ian church.  But  in  order  to  see  it,  even  im- 
perfecdy,  the  beholder  must  stand  beneath 
the  dome  and  look  straight  up,  a'  strained 


142  CHAPEL  TALKS 

and  difficult  position.  The  authorities  of  the 
church  solved  the  problem  by  removing  the 
floor  under  the  dome  and  putting  a  mirror 
there  with  a  railing  around  it.  Now  the  vis- 
itor can  look  down  and  study  every  line  of 
the  masterpiece.  Look  into  the  mirror  of 
this  Book  for  life  in  every  phase,  life  wres- 
tling with  temptation,  life  triumphant  over 
sorrow,  life  overcoming  death. 

It  is  a  book  of  great  horizons.  A  genera- 
tion ago  the  Marquis  of  Salisbury  said  to  a 
*'  little  Englander  "  who  failed  to  perceive  the 
greatness  of  the  dream  of  world-wide  empire, 
"  You  must  study  bigger  maps."  The  Bible 
bids  us  study  the  biggest  maps.  Under  its 
tuition  the  little  walls  which  seem  to  hem  us 
in  are  far  removed,  the  low  ceiling  is  vastly 
lifted,  and  the  loyal  soul  shares  the  posses- 
sion of  the  universe  with  God. 

There  is  something  in  this  Book  for  every 
age.  It  has  its  message  for  infancy  when  we 
know  not  anything  but  love ;  for  childhood 
with  its  generous  trust ;  for  youth  with  its 
unquenched  enthusiasms ;  for  age  with  its 
burdens ;  for  advancing  years,  life's  mellow 
October,  with  their  whitening  frosts  that 
silver  the  hair  and  soften  the  heart. 


THE  WONDERFUL  BOOK  143 

Because  the  Bible  is  all  this,  it  is  a  charac- 
ter-forming book,  and  Arnold,  master  of 
Rugby,  never  said  a  wiser  thing  than  this, 
**  The  one  thing  in  life  worthy  our  absorbing 
attention  is  character."  A  man  cannot  read 
this  Book  with  mental  sincerity  and  not  be 
profoundly  aflected  by  it  indirectly.  And  he 
cannot  read  it  with  moral  sincerity  without 
being  profoundly  affected  by  it  directly.  A 
young  man  who  had  the  gift  of  going 
straight  at  the  heart  of  a  matter  wrote  to  his 
father  from  college,  "  I  have  found  that  I  had 
to  give  up  my  vices  or  give  up  my  Bible." 

The  Bible  is  a  book  of  portraits.  There  is 
no  such  gallery  of  biography  in  any  other 
volume, — kings  and  warriors,  **  chieftains  and 
bards  and  keepers  of  their  sheep."  But  the 
supreme  portrait  of  the  Book  is  in  the  New 
Testament.  It  is  a  Face  out  of  which  look 
steady,  piercing  eyes,  which  follow  us  as 
with  the  gaze  of  a  living  soul.  Jesus  Christ, 
faintly  outlined  in  the  Old  Testament,  is  fully 
portrayed  in  the  New.  Soon  or  late,  every 
reader  of  this  Book  stands  before  that  Face. 
At  first  the  student  seems  to  hear  the  query, 
"What  think  ye  of  Christ?"  Later  the 
question  takes  another  form,  and  resolves  it- 


144  CHAPEL  TALKS 

self  into  this,  "What  does  Christ  think  of 
me?" 

I  do  not  state  it  too  strongly  when  I  say, 
finally,  that  this  Book,  being  Christ's  Book, 
is  the  book  of  salvation.  *'  Power  unto  sal- 
vation" is  Paul's  phrase.  Matthew  Arnold 
divides  all  literature  into  books  of  light  and 
books  of  power.  The  Bible  is  both.  It  is 
superlatively  the  book  of  power.  The  su- 
preme dynamic  is  not  only  moral  but  per- 
sonal. The  Man  of  this  portrait  demands, 
"  What  then  will  ye  do  with  Me  ?  " 

Some  one  asked  the  old  black  body-serv- 
ant of  Andrew  Jackson,  after  the  General's 
decease,  "  Do  you  think  your  master  went  to 
heaven?"  and  he  replied,  "I  don't  know, 
but  I  specs  he  did  if  he  wanted  to."  God 
never  coerces  any  human  soul.  This  Book 
is  a  book  of  freedom  as  well  as  of  power. 
There  are  no  slaves  in  God's  household.  He 
makes  His  servants  sons.  May  His  Spirit 
be  upon  you  all  for  good. 


XII 

To  Him  That  Hath 

"  Whosoever  hathy  to  him  shall  be  given; 
and  whosoever  hath  not,  from  him  shall  be  taken 
even  that  which  he  seemeth  to  have.'* 

— Luke  via.  i8. 

THERE  are  two  kinds  of  sayings  in 
the  Bible  over  which  many  stumble. 
They  are  dark  sayings  and  hard 
sayings.  Dark  sayings  are  such  as  are  diffi- 
cult to  understand.  Hard  sayings  are  such 
as  seem,  upon  the  face  of  them,  cruel  and  un- 
just. The  text  is  a  hard  saying.  It  is  ap- 
parently cruel. 

And  yet  the  cruelty  of  this  saying  is  like 
the  cruelty  of  Nature, — in  the  end  it  is  be- 
nevolent. Nature  is  at  once  the  most  tyran- 
nical and  the  most  benevolent  mistress. 
Obey  her  laws  and  she  smiles.  Disobey  her 
laws,  and  her  face  is  steadfastly  set  against 
us. 

Upon  the  surface  these  words  seem  arbi- 
trary.    But  when  we  look  deeper  into  them 
145 


146  CHAPEL  TALKS 

we  shall  find  that  they  are  not  so.  They 
would  be  true  even  if  the  Bible  had  never 
contained  them.  They  are  true  because  of 
natural  law,  and  natural  law  is  benevolent, 
considered  as  to  its  end. 

Consider  for  a  moment  another  hard  say- 
ing :  "  The  soul  that  sinneth  it  shall  die."  Is 
this  cruel  ?  Is  it  arbitrary  ?  Nay.  It  is  in- 
evitable. Righteousness  is  life,  and  so  the 
man  who  deliberately  chooses  unrighteous- 
ness is  committing  suicide.  (It  is  very  sig- 
nificant that  in  the  Revised  Version  of  the 
New  Testament  in  almost  every  instance  in 
which  the  Authorized  Version  uses  the  word 
soul,  the  word  life  is  substituted,  so  that  we 
read,  '*  What  shall  it  profit  a  man  if  he  gain 
the  whole  world  and  lose  his  own  life?") 

**To  him  that  hath  shall  be  given."  Is 
this  according  to  natural  law  ?  It  would  seem 
so.  It  is  according  to  a  law  resembling 
gravitation.  Any  two  masses  of  matter  in 
the  universe  attract  each  other.  The  larger 
the  mass,  the  stronger  the  attraction.  See 
the  children  rolling  up  snowballs  in  the  soft 
snow.  The  larger  the  ball,  the  more  snow  it 
accumulates  as  it  is  pushed  along.  To  him 
that  hath  shall  be  given. 


TO  HIM  THAT  HATH  147 

The  law  operates  in  the  realm  of  finance. 
It  is  much  easier  for  a  man  of  some  capital  to 
make  headway  than  for  one  who  has  little  or 
nothing.  It  is  a  common  saying  that  after 
the  first  thousand  dollars  or  the  first  ten  thou- 
sand dollars  have  been  accumulated,  the 
growth  of  one's  fortune  is  tolerably  secure. 
Certainly  the  man  of  large  capital  has  many 
chances  for  profitable  investment  which  do 
not  occur  to  the  man  of  small  capital. 

It  is  so  in  the  world  of  scholarship.  Here 
are  two  students,  one  with  a  keen  mind  and  a 
retentive  memory,  the  other  with  slower  fac- 
ulties. How  much  easier  it  is  for  the  one  to 
learn  !  Knowledge  comes  to  him.  The  other 
has  to  dig  for  it.  The  compensatory  fact 
that  the  slow  student  may  be  more  thorough 
and  more  accurate  than  the  other  does  not 
disprove  the  principle  that  the  larger  the  in- 
tellectual capital,  the  larger  and  the  easier 
are  the  achievements. 

It  is  exactly  so  of  spiritual  gifts.  Jesus  was 
speaking  of  spiritual  things.  He  had  little 
or  nothing  to  say  to  men  about  commerce  or 
scholarship.  He  left  that  to  those  who 
should  thereafter  specialize  in  such  things. 
He  was  a  specialist  in  the  things  of  the  spirit. 


148  CHAPEL  TALKS 

And  here  He  enunciates  a  spiritual  principle 
which  is  clearly  demonstrable.  The  man  of 
prayer  at  length  finds  prayer  an  easy  exer- 
cise. He  who  has  made  truth  the  law  of  his 
life  speaks  the  truth  without  effort  when  temp- 
tation comes.  He  whose  life  has  been  de- 
voted to  duty  does  his  duty  in  a  crisis  with- 
out a  struggle.  Duty  has  become  second 
nature  to  him.  On  the  other  hand,  the  man 
of  prayerless  habits  accumulates  doubts  and 
fears.  The  man  who  has  sacrificed  truth  to 
mere  convenience  finds  it  difficult  to  tell  the 
truth  or  even  to  recognize  the  truth  when  he 
sees  it,  which  confirms  Plato's  saying  that 
"  the  perception  of  truth  is  a  moral  act."  He 
who  has  dodged  duty  at  every  possible  op- 
portunity does  not  recognize  it  when  he  meets 
it  face  to  face.  The  man  of  spiritual  gifts 
grows  richer  and  richer.  The  man  of  spiri- 
tual poverty,  the  man  who  is  spiritually  in- 
solvent, grows  poorer  and  poorer. 

See  how  it  works  in  the  realm  of  conduct. 
He  who  has  learned  the  art  of  self-control 
grows  in  capacity  for  self-control.  The  un- 
controlled man  grows  more  uncontrollable. 
Nothing  is  more  pitiful  than  the  sight  of  one 
who  has  been  so  long  in  the  habit  of  losing 


TO  HIM  THAT  HATH  149 

his  self-control  and  letting  his  tongue  run 
away  with  him  that,  on  the  slightest  provoca- 
tion, his  torpedo-like  temper  explodes,  and 
gets  him  into  endless  trouble.  It  is  so  of 
self-denial.  He  who  has  practiced  self-sacri- 
fice daily  finds  joy  in  it.  The  self-indulgent 
soul  finds  it  difficult  and  at  length  impossible 
to  exercise  self-sacrifice.  His  moral  muscles 
have  grown  stifif.  They  will  not  bend. 
Pampered  nature  will  not  be  denied. 

All  these  things  are  proofs  of  the  truth  of 
the  text.  Now  what  natural  law  explains  it  ? 
It  is  the  law  of  potential  energy.  Every 
thought  and  every  act  of  ours  is  followed  by 
a  physical  change  in  us.  If  we  could  ex- 
amine the  brain  of  a  living  person  and  if  our 
senses  were  sufficiently  acute  and  our  knowl- 
edge of  brain  functions  were  sufficiently 
comprehensive,  we  should  see  that  every  vol- 
untary act  of  ours  is  followed  by  chemical 
changes  in  the  blood  and  these  record  them- 
selves in  the  fibers  and  tissues  of  the  brain. 
He  who  schools  himself  to  doing  difficult 
things  thereby  stores  up  within  his  brain  a 
certain  amount  of  potential  energy,  which 
makes  the  doing  of  such  things  less  difficult 
each  time  they  are  repeated.     Upon  this  law 


150  CHAPEL  TALKS 

of  potential  energy  depend  all  such  exercises 
as  playing  upon  musical  instruments,  gym- 
nastic feats  and  the  like.  Here  is  a  master 
musician,  or  let  us  say,  a  magician,  or  an 
athlete,  performing  almost  incredible  feats, 
involving  rapid  motion,  or  skill,  or  strength. 
We  know  that  it  has  not  always  been  easy 
for  him  to  do  these  things.  They  were  hard 
when  he  began  his  practice.  But  each  time 
he  performed  them  he  had  a  little  larger  capi- 
tal upon  which  to  draw  for  the  next  attempt. 

A  great  violinist  says,  "  If  I  neglect  my 
practice  a  day  I  know  the  difference  ;  if  I 
neglect  it  two  or  three  days,  my  friends  know 
the  difference ;  if  I  neglect  it  a  week  the  pub- 
lic knows  it." 

Thomas  K.  Beecher  was  one  of  the  most 
brilliant  members  of  that  famous  family.  He 
once  told  me  of  a  remarkable  experiment  of 
his  own.  Some  years  before,  his  eyes  began 
to  fail  him.  So  he  decided  to  use  only  one 
of  his  eyes  in  reading,  closing  the  other. 
This  he  did  in  the  belief  that  presently,  when 
the  much-used  eye  failed,  the  little-used  eye 
would  be  of  service.  But  it  was  the  eye  he 
saved  that  was  the  first  to  fail.  Does  not 
this  remind  us  of  those  other  words  of  our 


TO  HIM  THAT  HATH  151 

Saviour,  "  He  that  would  gain  his  Hfe  must 
lose  it"  ?  This  also  is  a  hard  saying,  quite 
as  hard  as  the  saying  of  the  text,  very  para- 
doxical indeed,  and  yet  very  true.  The  best 
way  to  gain  some  things  is  to  be  willing  to 
lose  them. 

Call  over  the  names  of  the  martyrs  of  the 
ages.  Who  are  they?  Men  and  women 
who  have  lost  their  lives.  And  yet  look  again 
into  history's  pages  and  you  shall  find  that 
the  most  of  these  live  more  truly  in  the  life 
of  the  world  than  their  more  prudent  brothers 
and  sisters  who  hid  themselves  in  times  of 
danger  and  saved  their  lives.  Saved  their 
lives?  Their  lives  were  not  worth  saving. 
And  so  Humanity  did  not  save  them. 

Did  Jesus  lose  His  life?  If  He  did,  He  has 
found  it  again  in  a  million  million  other  lives. 
Did  Stephen  lose  his  life  ?  He  found  it  again 
in  Paul.  Did  Paul  lose  his  life  ?  He  found 
it  again  in  Timothy.  Did  Telemachus  lose 
his  life?  (He  was  that  monk  ^^ho  threw 
himself  into  the  arena  to  protest  against  the 
massacre  of  gladiators  who  fought  each 
other  for  the  delectation  of  the  Roman  Em- 
peror and  the  Vestal  Virgins  and  the  fickle 
populace.     He  lost  his  life,  but  in  the  act  of 


J62  CHAPEL  TALKS 

losing  it  he  gave  the  death  blow  to  gladiato- 
rialism  and  his  act  secured  the  lives  of  multi- 
tudes.) Did  any  martyr  ever  lose  anything  ? 
Only  as  we  lose  our  money  when  we  put  it 
into  a  savings  bank.  We  get  it  back  with 
interest.  The  best  way  to  gain  power  is  to 
expend  it.  That  which  thou  sowest  is  not 
quickened  unless  it  die. 

**  It  is  a  faithful  saying  that  if  we  be  dead 
with  Christ  we  shall  also  live  with  Him." 
These  words  do  not  refer  to  literal  death,  but 
to  that  moral  state  which  Jesus  exemplified 
in  which  it  was  evident  that  in  Him  pride 
and  avarice  and  self-will  and  sloth  and  envy 
were  dead.  As  these  things  died  in  Him,  His 
spirit  lived,  and  in  that  spirit's  life  the  dead 
world  has  hope  of  life  that  shall  endless  be. 

There  was  an  old  sculptor  who  as  he 
worked  upon  the  stone,  with  mallet  and 
chisel,  was  wont  to  say,  "As  the  marble 
wastes  the  statue  grows."  This  is  a  parable 
of  life.  Power  by  renunciation.  Indeed 
there  is  no  true  moral  power  without  it. 
They  live  most  deeply  in  the  world's  life  who 
have  renounced  their  own.  They  rise  the 
highest  who  are  most  willing  to  stoop  to  lift 
others  up.     True  wealth  grows  as  it  expends 


TO  HIM  THAT  HATH  153 

itself  in  the  enrichment  of  the  common  life  of 
the  race.  The  whole  lesson  of  the  text  is 
contained  in  those  closing  lines  of  one  of  our 
modern  poets'  masterpieces : 

"  Battling  with  fate,  with  men,  and  with  myself, 
Up  the  steep  summit  of  my  life's  forenoon, 
Three  things  I  learned,  three  things  of  precious 

worth 
To  guide  and  help  me  down  the  western  slope : 
I  have  learned  how  to  pray,  and  toil,  and  save ; 
To  pray  for  courage  to  receive  what  comes, 
Knowing  what  comes  to  be  divinely  sent ; 
To  toil  for  universal  good,  since  thus,  and  only 

thus. 
Can  good  come  unto  me ;  to  save 
By  giving  whatso'er  I  have  to  those  who  have 

not, — 
This,  and  this  alone  is  gain." 


XIII 
The  Captaincy  of  Jesus 

"  For  it  became  Hm^for  whom  are  all  things, 
and  through  whom  are  all  things,  in  bringing 
many  sons  unto  glory,  to  make  the  Captain  of  their 
salvation  perfect  through  sufferings. ^^ 

— Hebrews  ii.  lo* 

IT  is  difficult  to  treat  this  verse  in  its  en- 
tirety and  treat  any  portion  of  it  suf- 
ficiently. There  is  so  much  of  it. 
It  contains  a  comprehensive  and  illumina- 
ting statement  of  the  sovereignty  of  God. 
Who  is  He  ?  What  is  He  ?  What  is  His  re- 
lation to  the  world  and  the  universe  ?  This 
is  the  answer:  "For  whom  are  all  things 
and  through  whom  are  all  things."  Here 
are  affirmed  sovereign  creatorship,  sovereign 
ownership,  sovereign  presence  in  the  universe. 
Henceforth  let  no  man  charge  the  writers  of 
this  Book,  either  in  the  Old  or  New  Testa- 
ment, with  cherishing  a  small  notion  of  God. 
Not  Plato  nor  Epictetus  had  so  perfect  an  idea 
of  the  Supreme  Power  as  had  this  unknown 
154 


THE  CAPTAraCY  OF  JESUS         155 

writer  of  the  first  century  of  our  era.  And 
we  know  where  he  got  it ;  we  Icnow  whence 
he  derived  his  idea  of  God, — from  One  who, 
as  he  believed,  came  from  God  with  author- 
ity to  speak  for  God. 

Then  there  is  here  a  great  light  thrown  on 
the  most  important  of  all  questions, — What 
is  God's  will  concerning  us  ?  It  is  plain.  He 
purposes  "to  bring  many  children  unto  glory.'* 
They  asked  Jesus,  **  Are  there  many  that  be 
saved  ?  "  Here  is  the  solution  of  that  prob- 
lem. God  will  not  be  satisfied  with  a  few ; 
He  must  bring  many  sons  unto  glory. 

Here  also  light  is  thrown  upon  the  end  of 
our  faith.  To  what  will  God  bring  us? 
What  lies  beyond  the  corner,  within  the  veil  ? 
Glory.  What  glory  ?  Certainly  not  the  glory 
of  ultimate  extinction.  That  is  the  Buddhist's 
best  hope.  Certainly  not  the  glory  of  a  Mo- 
hammedan paradise.  That  would  be  no  glory 
for  a  spiritual  being.  It  is  to  the  glory  of 
childship  we  are  called.  "  We  shall  be  like 
Him."  Is  this  not  enough  ?  Is  there  any- 
thing under  the  heavens  or  above  them  bet- 
ter than  that  ? 

But  all  this  is  merely  introductory  to  what 
I  am  anxious  you  should  see  in  these  words 


156  CHAPEL  TALKS 

to-day.  There  is  here  a  strange  title  attrib- 
uted to  Jesus.  He  is  called  a  Captain.  The 
word  is  used  often  in  the  Septuagint  and  in 
the  classics,  but  I  think  not  elsewhere  in  the 
New  Testament  except  in  the  book  of  '*  The 
Acts  of  the  Apostles,"  where  Peter,  before  the 
Council  in  Jerusalem,  speaks  of  Jesus  as  **  ex- 
alted to  be  a  prince  and  Saviour."  The  Re- 
vised Version,  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews, 
translates  the  word  "  Author," — "  the  Author 
of  our  salvation,"  but  in  so  doing,  it  would 
seem,  fails  to  make  forceful  the  idea  that  Jesus 
is  not  only  the  author  of  our  salvation,  but 
our  still-present  leader.  He  brings  us  unto 
glory,  but  He  leads  the  way.  **  He  goeth 
before  us."  That  is  what  a  captain  is  for,  to 
lead  the  way,  to  say  "come,"  not  "go." 
Jesus  Himself  said,  **  I  am  the  Way,"  making 
clear  that  all  we  have  to  do  is  to  keep  close 
to  Him. 

So  the  text  sees  Jesus  as  John  does  in 
Revelation,  leading  the  hosts  of  heaven,  upon 
His  vesture  the  name,  **  King  of  Kings  and 
Lord  of  Lords." 

There  is  no  doubt  Jesus  was  a  great  leader. 
By  all  possible  tests,  by  the  highest  of  all 
standards,  He  was  the  world's  greatest  leader. 


THE  CAPTAINCY  OF  JESUS        157 

Moses  and  David  and  Isaiah  were  leaders, 
but  they  merely  pointed  the  way  to  Him.  He 
led  His  disciples  to  moral  victory,  to  heights 
of  heroism,  to  a  spiritual  exaltation  that  has 
made  them,  stupid  as  they  were,  the  teachers 
of  the  world.  Consider  His  difficulties  :  the 
unfavourable  age,  the  unpromising  human 
material,  the  array  of  opposing  forces,  and 
then  give  Him  the  glory  due  Him  as  a  match- 
less leader.  Remember  the  best  test  of  a 
leader's  power  is  the  ability  to  induce  men  to 
attempt  the  impossible.  Then  see  Jesus,  put- 
ting hope  into  hopeless  souls,  bidding  a  man 
with  a  withered  arm  stretch  forth  his  hand, 
and  lo  I  he  essays  to  do  it,  and  succeeds ! 
What  Napoleon  did  on  the  lowest  plane,  when 
he  said,  **The  Alps?  There  shall  be  no 
Alps  1 "  Jesus  did  on  the  highest  when  He 
said,  **  The  world  ?  We  shall  live  above  the 
world."  Is  it  the  test  of  a  man's  genius  for 
leadership  to  put  his  own  spirit  into  his  fol- 
lowers? Jesus  did  that.  Stephen  died  as 
died  our  Lord,  praying  for  his  murderers. 
So  died  Paul.  The  soul  of  Jesus  becomes  the 
heritage  of  His  people. 

But  the  text  is  more  concerned  with  the 
explanation  of  Jesus*  leadership  than  with  its 


168  CHAPEL  TALKS 

illustration  or  vindication.  It  gives  us  the 
practical  philosophy  of  it.  It  accounts  for 
Jesus*  captaincy.  "  He  was  made  perfect 
through  sufferings."  That  is  to  say,  through 
discipline.  Power  came  to  Him  through  self- 
denial.  What  He  surrendered  in  one  sphere 
passed  over  to  His  credit  in  another.  That 
is  God's  way  to  strength  and  beauty.  It  is 
nature's  way.  A  great  rose-bush  may  bear 
but  one  blossom,  but  it  is  a  perfect  blossom. 
Other  blossoms  started,  but  were  destroyed, 
that  the  life  of  the  whole  bush  might  go  into 
one  red  rose. 

"  We  rise  by  the  things  that  are  under  our  feet, 
By  what  we  have  mastered  of  good  and  gain, 
By  the  pride  deposed  and  the  passion  slain 
And  the  vanquished  ills  that  we  hourly  meet." 

Think  what  we  all  learn  by  what  we  suffer. 
Or  rather,  what  we  may  learn.  Not  all  do. 
There  are  two  ways  for  a  swimmer  in  the 
sea  to  meet  an  oncoming  wave.  He  may 
bend  and  break  the  force,  or  he  may  meet  it 
defiantly  and  be  broken.  Fire  that  melts 
ore  hardens  clay.  Have  you  not  seen  it  so 
in  life?  The  same  great  loss  befalls  two 
souls  ;  one  is  subdued  to  tenderness,  while 


THE  CAPTAINCY  OF  JESUS         159 

the  other  becomes  morose  and  bitter.  I 
have  heard  a  woman  say  who  had  lost  a 
child,  **  My  heart  is  broken  but  not  contrite.'* 
Henley  in  his  great  poem,  the  best  modern 
expression  of  stoicism,  says,  "My  head  is 
bloody  but  unbowed."  An  unbowed  head  is 
proud,  stubborn,  rebellious.  Poverty  spurs 
some  souls  to  high  endeavour,  and  utterly 
disheartens  others.  Opposition  inspires 
some  and  depresses  others.  One  man  stands 
up  all  the  more  erectly  under  heavy  burdens 
that  would  crush  another.  Sorrow  purifies 
some  hearts  and  petrifies  others.  All  these 
things  Jesus  knew,  poverty,  opposition, 
heavy  burdens,  sorrow  ;  but  they  were  a  part 
of  His  discipline  as  a  man  and  as  a  leader  of 
men. 

From  such  things  Jesus  learned  obedience. 
It  is  an  axiom  that  a  man  cannot  command 
until  he  has  learned  to  obey.  The  president 
of  one  of  our  greatest  railroads  came  up  from 
his  place  as  a  section  hand.  His  men  re- 
spect him  all  the  more  because  he  learned  to 
obey.  See  Jesus'  attitude  towards  the 
Father  in  the  temple,  at  His  baptism,  in 
Gethsemane,  on  the  Cross.  There  is  the 
perfect  Son  to  whom  the  Father's  will  is  the 


160  CHAPEL  TALKS 

law  of  His  life.  Does  He  command  ?  He 
first  obeyed. 

He  learned  sympathy.  "  We  have  not  an 
high  priest  who  cannot  be  touched  with  the 
feeling  of  our  infirmities."  Is  the  way  hard? 
He  knows  how  hard  it  is.  Do  my  own  kins- 
men doubt  me  ?  His  kinsmen  doubted  Him. 
Has  a  friend  betrayed  me?  He  had  His 
Judas.  Have  I  been  maligned?  They  called 
Him  a  glutton  and  a  wine-bibber.  This  is 
the  secret  of  His  sympathy.  He  was  made 
perfect  through  sufferings.  Henceforth  let 
no  man  who  is  having  a  hard  time  say  the 
heavens  are  deaf  to  his  cry.  It  falls  upon 
a  fellow-sufferer's  ears,  and  finds  response 
within  His  heart.  Travellers  through  a  vir- 
gin forest  blaze  the  path  for  others  to  follow. 
So,  in  our  pilgrimage  we  find  here  and  there 
the  marks  of  One  who  passed  this  way  be- 
fore us  but  yesterday  I 

He  learned  courage.  It  may  be  some  men 
are  gifted  by  nature  with  a  constitutional  in- 
capacity for  fear.  But,  even  so,  it  is  not 
courage  to  know  no  fear.  But  to  know  fear, 
to  feel  its  force,  and  yet  to  bear  up  and 
press  on, — that  is  courage. 

Women  are  naturally  more   fearful  than 


THE  CAPTAINCY  OF  JESUS        161 

men,  but  nevertheless  are  generally  braver. 
In  emergencies,  a  woman  may  be  depended 
upon  to  do  the  unselfish  thing,  the  courageous 
thing,  the  self-forgetful  thing.  Jesus  was 
like  that, — always  doing  brave  and  noble 
things,  always  proving  Himself  courageous 
to  the  last  degree.  It  required  courage  to 
send  word  to  Herod,  **  Go  tell  that  fox."  It 
required  courage  to  drive  the  hucksters  out 
of  the  Temple.  It  required  courage  when 
He  faced  Pilate,  and  when  the  Roman  Gov- 
ernor said,  **  Art  thou  then  a  king  ?  "  to  reply, 
"  Thou  sayest."  But  courage  is  a  habit  of 
the  mind.  It  grows  by  exercise.  In  the 
crises  of  His  life,  His  courage  failed  Him  not 
because  daily  He  had  cultivated  the  love  of 
truth  more  than  life. 

Now  we  have  found  what  He  had  learned 
by  Hfe's  discipline, — obedience,  sympathy, 
courage.  With  these  quahties  wrought  into 
His  soul,  who  was  so  fit  to  be  the  Captain  of 
our  salvation  ?  Who  so  deserves  our  hom- 
age now?  For  He  leads  His  people  to 
obedience  and  sympathy  and  courage. 

Would  we  be  leaders  under  Him  ?  These 
must  be  our  warrant.  These  are  the  irre- 
ducible price  of  religious  leadership.    Leader- 


162  CHAPEL  TALKS 

ship  without  these  is  powerless  to  touch  life. 
Say  not  however,  "  Go  to,  therefore,  I  will 
straightway  be  obedient  and  sympathetic  and 
courageous."  Say  rather,  "  I  will  seek  con- 
stant fellowship  with  Jesus  Christ,  that  His 
life  may  flow  into  my  life  and  I  grow  like 
Him  day  by  day.*' 


XIV 
Where  to  Find  God 

"  Oh,  that  I  knew  where  I  might  find  Him  / 
.  .  .  Behold,  I  go  forward,  but  He  is  not 
there;  and  backward,  but  I  cannot  perceive 
Him  :  on  the  left  hand  where  He  doth  work, 
but  I  cannot  behold  Him ;  He  hideth  Himself 
on  the  right  hand,  that  I  cannot  see  Him  ;  but 
He  knoweth  the  way  that  I  take :  when  He  hath 
tried  me,  I  shall  come  forth  as  gold" 

— Job  XX Hi.  J,  8-10. 

THOMAS  CARLYLE  was.  a  lover  of 
the  Holy  Scriptures.  Something  of 
the  rugged  majesty  of  his  literary 
style  is  due  to  his  familiarity  with  the  writ- 
ings of  the  Hebrew  prophets.  He  was  a 
lover  of  the  Book  of  Job.  He  spoke  thus  of 
it :  "  A  noble  book  I  All  men's  book  I  It  is 
our  first,  oldest  statement  of  the  never-end- 
ing problem  of  man's  destiny  and  God's  way 
with  him  here  in  the  earth.  And  all  in  such 
free,  glowing  outlines  ;  grand  in  its  sincerity, 
grand  in  its  simplicity,  in  its  epic  melody 
and  repose  of  reconcilement.  .  .  .  Such 
163 


164  CHAPEL  TALKS 

living  likenesses  were  never  since  drawn. 
Sublime  sorrow,  sublime  reconciliation,  oldest 
choral  melody  as  of  the  heart  of  mankind ; 
so  soft  and  great,  as  the  world  with  its  seas 
and  stars." 

Truly,  a  great  book  it  is,  by  whomsoever 
written, — a  masterpiece  of  poesy,  a  master- 
piece of  philosophy,  a  masterpiece  of  the- 
ology, a  masterpiece  of  devotion,  touching 
in  its  pathos,  soothing  in  its  music,  deep  and 
satisfying  in  its  truth. 

It  is  the  heart-history  of  one  who  lived  a 
brave  and  beautiful  life.  Sorrow  after  sor- 
row came  to  him.  Loss  after  loss  befell  him. 
Mystery  after  mystery  mocked  him.  His 
friends  forsook  him.  Death  robbed  him  of 
his  children.  Tempests  of  pain  beat  down 
upon  his  uncovered  head,  and  beat  harder 
upon  his  naked  heart,  yet  he  clung  with 
passionate  persistence  to  his  confidence  in 
God. 

In  the  verses  of  the  text  we  see  him  seek- 
ing, but  seeking  all  in  vain,  behind,  and 
before,  and  around  him,  for  some  assurance 
of  God ;  then  seeking  within  his  own  heart, 
and  finding  there  some  intuition,  some  sense, 
of  God,  something  which  whispers,  "  God  is, 


WHERE  TO  FI:N^D  GOD  165 

and  God  is  good,"  and  so  he  rests  the  whole 
case  there  I 

Now  Job  is  not  alone  in  his  quest  of  God. 
Abraham,  who  may  have  been  Job's  contem- 
porary, is  traditionally  represented  as  pur- 
suing the  same  quest.  He  thought  he  had 
found  God  in  the  sacred  river,  and  so  he 
worshipped  it.  But  the  river  overflowed  its 
banks,  and  brought  death  to  multitudes,  and 
he  turned  his  worship  to  the  heavens.  Sun, 
moon  and  stars  he  worshipped,  until  he  per- 
ceived that  the  sun  varies  in  his  light-giving 
and  life-imparting  properties — that  the  sun 
can  smite  as  well  as  smile,  that  the  moon 
wanes  and  that  the  stars  grow  pale.  Then 
he  lifted  his  thoughts  to  the  Maker  of  rivers 
and  mountains,  seas  and  suns,  and  so  began 
the  revelation  of  Jehovah  to  the  Hebrew  race. 

And  Isaiah  was  another  like  Job,  a  thou- 
sand years  later.  He,  too,  lived  a  strong 
and  serene  life,  and  he,  too,  came  to  the  same 
conclusion  about  God — let  us  rather  say,  he 
came  to  the  same  understanding  with  God. 
With  Isaiah,  the  work  of  faith  was  peace, 
and  the  eflect  of  faith  was  quietness  and 
assurance  forever.  And  yet  Isaiah,  with  his 
clearer   apprehension   of  God,  was  so  con- 


166  CHAPEL  TALKS 

scious  of  the  limitations  of  his  knowledge, 
that  he  cried,  **  Verily,  Thou  art  a  God  who 
hidest  Thyself,  O  God  of  Israel,  the  Saviour." 

Seven  hundred  years  go  by,  and  we  find 
one  of  Jesus'  disciples  voicing  the  old  desire 
for  some  perceptible  evidence  of  God, — 
*'  Show  us  the  Father  and  it  sufficeth  us." 

It  is  the  old,  old,  yet  ever  new,  problem  of 
the  soul.  They  who  taunted  the  Psalmist 
with  the  challenge,  **  Who  will  show  us  any 
good?"  really  meant,  "Who  will  show  us 
any  good  reason  for  belief  in  God?"  The 
Athenian  altar,  dedicated  "To  the  God  Un- 
known," was  a  pitiful  confession  that  with 
all  their  gods  and  goddesses,  the  Greeks 
were  still  where  Job  was  when  he  exclaimed, 
"  Oh,  that  I  knew  where  I  might  find  Him  I " 

Is  it  not  tragic,  is  it  not  the  very  soul  of 
tragedy,  this  perpetual  interrogation,  and  this 
perpetual  silence  ?  Birds  and  beasts  are  not 
forever  looking  for  something  they  never 
find.  They  are  not  dissatisfied  with  them- 
selves and  their  environment.  Are  we  less 
perfect  than  they  ? 

Nay  !  It  is  because  we  are  more  perfect 
that  we  are  forever  seeking  something  be- 
yond our  grasp.     The  cry  of  a  babe  is  not 


WHERE  TO  FIND  GOD  167 

as  perfect  or  as  pleasing  as  the  song  of  a 
nightingale,  but  there  is  more  promise  in  it ! 
The  unsatisfied  longings  of  our  souls  are  our 
richest  heritage.  They  argue  that  we  were 
made  for  something  better  than  we  have.  If 
our  eyes  were  content  with  beauty,  our 
hearts  with  love,  and  our  minds  with  truth, 
then  were  we  perfect,— then  there  were  noth- 
ing more  to  gain.  Just  because  we  are  not 
content,  just  because  the  soul  still  pursues  its 
quest,  we  know  we  are  destined  to  greater 
things  than  can  be  seen  or  heard  or  thought. 
Such  was  Augustine's  idea,  which  some  one 
has  put  into  verse  : 

**  In  vain  we  seek  for  rest 
In  all  created  good, — 
It  leaves  us  still  unblest. 
And  makes  us  sigh  for  God. 
Surely  at  rest  we  ne'er  can  be 
Until  our  souls  find  rest  in  Thee  !  " 

Amiel,  that  saintly  and  mystical  Swiss  pro- 
fessor at  Geneva,  whose  intimate  journal  Mrs. 
Humphrey  Ward  has  translated  for  us,  says 
it  in  other  words  :  "  It  is  the  Absolute  I  seek  : 
nothing  less  than  the  Unconditioned,  the 
Perfect,  the  Ultimate,  can  make  me  com- 
plete." How  like  is  that  to  the  writer  of 
Ecclesiastes  who  declares  that  God  has  put 


168  CHAPEL  TALKS 

eternity  into  our  hearts !  Well,  Amiel  died 
unsatisfied,  and  his  last  recorded  words  were 
a  quotation  from  some  French  poet,  **  Oh,  my 
poor,  tired  heart.'' 

Let  us  suppose  that  he  had  died  satisfied, 
perfectly  satisfied  with  himself,  with  the  truth 
he  had  acquired  and  with  the  love  he  had  ex- 
perienced,— that  would  have  been  sad  ! 

His  friends  wrote  above  the  grave  of  one 
of  England's  greatest  scholars, — the  author 
of  *'  The  Short  History  of  the  English  Peo- 
ple," **  He  died  learning."  Browning  puts  it 
in  his  tense,  terse  style  ; 

**  Our  reach  is  greater  than  our  grasp, 
Else  what's  heaven  for  ?  " 

But  the  question  comes,  Is  it  not  a  grief,  a 
source  of  constant  mental  irritation  and 
moral  perturbation,  to  be  seeking  what  we 
cannot  find  ?  The  Psalmist  did  not  find  it 
so  who  said,  "  I  shall  be  satisfied  when  I 
awake  with  His  likeness."  Nor  the  Apostle, 
who  said,  '*  We  know  that  when  He  shall  ap- 
pear, we  shall  be  like  Him."  Nor  Job,  who 
fell  back  upon  this  conviction,  "  He  knoweth 
the  way  that  I  take,  and  when  He  hath  tried 
me,  I  shall  come  forth  as  gold."     These  were 


WHEEE  TO  FUiJ)  GOD  169 

not  satisfied,  but  they  were  satisfied  to  re- 
main unsatisfied  until  the  hour  of  full  reveal- 
ment  came. 

And  this  is  FAITH — content  to  continue 
the  quest  for  God,  to  do  His  will,  knowing 
full  well  that  we  shall  behold  Him  when 
**  His  black  slave,  Death,"  disrobes  us  of  our 
bodies,  and  ushers  us  through  the  gates  that 
open  inwardly  to  the  Temple  of  All  Truth. 

Paul  had  this  view  of  faith  when  he  wrote, 
"  We  look  not  at  the  things  which  are  seen." 
So  had  the  unknown  author  of  the  Epistle  to 
the  Hebrews,  who  defines  faith  as  **  the  assur- 
ance of  things  hoped  for,  the  conviction  of 
things  not  seen."  And  so  have  we  all  for 
whom  a  modern  psalmist  confesses : 

"  I  know  not  what  awaits  me, 
God  kindly  veils  my  eyes, 
And  o'er  each  step  of  my  onward  way 
He  makes  new  scenes  to  rise, 
And  every  joy  He  gives  me 
Brings  a  glad  and  new  surprise. 

**  So  on  I  go,  not  knowing, 

I  would  not  if  I  might, — 

I'd  rather  walk  in  the  dark  with  God, 

Than  go  alone  in  the  light, 
^  I'd  rather  walk  by  faith  with  Him 

Than  go  alone  in  the  light." 


170  CHAPEL  TALKS 

Job  could  not  find  God  behind  him, — that 
is,  in  memory ;  nor  before  him,  that  is,  in 
hope ;  nor  in  nature  about  him.  Sorrow, 
deep  sorrow,  does  this  for  us, — it  blots  out  all 
the  past  and  all  the  future,  and  spreads  a 
black  pall  over  nature  itself.  But  when  he 
looked  within  himself,  he  found  an  assurance, 
a  conviction  of  God,  and  that,  to  use  the 
term  of  a  modern  German  philosopher,  had 
all  **  the  value  of  God  "  for  him. 

Where  shall  I  find  God  ?  is  the  question  of 
many  a  seeker.  There  are  those  here  to-day 
who  are  saying  to  themselves — and  who 
would  say  to  others  if  they  felt  free  to  express 
their  inmost  thoughts — **  If  I  were  only  sure 
of  God,  the  way  would  all  be  plain — I  could 
take  the  rest,  as  logically  included  in  that." 
Then  to  such  is  this  message  : 

We  may  be  sure  of  God — ^just  as  sure  as 
if  an  angel  stood  before  us  with  wings  "  like 
lightning  clad  in  snow  "  ;  just  as  sure  as  if, 
on  looking  up  into  the  noonday  sky,  we  were 
to  see  in  words  of  fire  across  the  arch  of  blue, 
"God  is."  Where  shall  we  find  Him? 
Where  shall  we  look  for  Him  ?     Within. 

I  do  not  mean  the  old  teleological  argu- 
ment for  God — the  evidence  of  a  Designer. 


WHEEE  TO  FIND  GOD  171 

It  is  rather, — look  within  for  an  indubitable 
capacity  for  God.  The  old  design  argument 
is  strong,  whether  we  use  as  an  illustration 
Paley's  watch  or  John  Fiske's  orchid.  **  He 
that  made  the  eye,  shall  He  not  see?  And 
He  that  fashioned  the  ear,  shall  He  not 
hear  ?  "  And  the  argument  from  the  validity 
of  instinct  is  still  tenable.  The  bird's  unrea- 
soning impulse  to  migration  is  evidence  of 
rice-swamps  and  fruit-fields  under  Southern 
skies. 

"  He  who  from  zone  to  zone 

Guides  through  the  boundless  sky  thy  cer- 
tain flight, 
In  the  long  way  that  I  must  tread  alone, 
Will  lead  my  steps  aright." 

But  the  argument  from  capacity  is  still 
stronger.  Our  desire  for  God  is  not  ''the 
desire  of  the  moth  for  the  star."  The  moth 
has  no  capacity  for  the  star.  Its  capacity  is 
easily  exhausted  by  a  sixteen  candle-power 
incandescent  light  or  even  by  a  penny 
candle.  But  our  capacity — our  spiritual  hun- 
ger— can  anything  less  than  God  satisfy 
that? 

Fish  in  Mammoth  Cave  are  blind  ;  they 
need    no   eyes,    hence    nature    gives    them 


172  CHAPEL  TALKS 

none.  Nature  is  not  blind.  A  hundred  feet 
beneath  the  surface  of  a  Missouri  corn  field 
they  found,  in  digging  for  minerals,  a  fossil 
mastodon.  The  large  bones  were  all  intact* 
The  skull  was  perfect.  The  eyeball  sockets 
were  there.  The  creature  had  eyes.  We 
know  that.  We  know  it  was  no  denizen  of 
a  subterranean  cavern.  It  walked  in  the 
light  and  saw.  We  know,  because  of  these 
evidences  of  its  capacity  to  see. 

Now  look  within  the  human  heart.  There 
is  the  world-wide,  age-long,  unappeased,  in- 
satiable, appealing  quest  for  God, — **  Oh, 
that  I  knew  where  I  might  find  Him."  That 
is  our  spiritual  eye.  It  signifies  that  there  is 
Light,  that  this  Light  is  for  us  ;  and  "  God 
is  light." 

This  capacity  may,  indeed,  be  '*  extirpated 
by  disuse."  We  may  forfeit  it.  But  that 
does  not  banish  God  from  His  universe. 
We  cannot  extinguish  the  sun  by  putting 
out  our  eyes !  We  may  bandage  our  eyes, 
or  blind  them,  but  the  day  remains  ^^right, 
and  other  eyes  still  see,  and  days  return  with 
rosy  dawns  and  purple  twilights,  and  stars 
still  wheel  their  stately  flight  about  the  sun, 
and  flowers  still  feel  his  warming  beams  even 


WHEEE  TO  FIND  GOD  173 

beneath  the  snow,  and  grope  their  upward 
way. 

Our  religious  nature  is  much  like  the  life 
of  a  bulb  beneath  the  sod.  It  is  dark,  but 
something  great,  something  Infinite,  draws 
us,  and  yielding,  faith  and  hope  and  love  ex- 
pand till  Time's  white  snows  shall  melt,  and 
we  look  up  into  His  face  who  hid  Himself 
for  long,  yet  called  us  through  earth's  cold 
and  gloom  to  grow  towards  Him. 

Are  we  growing  Godward  ?  Is  our  salva- 
tion nearer  than  when  we  first  believed  ?  Is 
our  desire  for  God  intenser  than  of  old  ? 

When  Professor  Starbuck  wrote  to  several 
hundred  people,  asking  them  to  tell  him  what 
led  them  to  take  the  first  step  in  their  Chris- 
tian lives,  one  young  woman,  keener  in  ana- 
lyzing her  own  motives  than  many  others, 
said,  "  I  had  a  longing  to  get  near  to  God." 
That  is  the  essence  of  the  religious  impulse. 
The  office  of  religion  is  to  reveal  to  us  the 
reality  of  the  Undiscoverable.  Jesus  speaks ; 
**  No  man  hath  seen  the  Father  save  the  Son 
and  he  to  whom  the  Son  shall  reveal  Him. 
No  man  cometh  unto  the  Father  but  by  Me." 

What  then  is  Jesus'  mission  in  the  world  ? 
And  what  is  His  ministry  to  us  ?     First  of  all 


174  CHAPEL  TALKS 

to  confirm  our  faith  that  God  is.  And  He 
does  confirm  it.  "Ye  believe  in  God;  be- 
lieve also  in  Me."  God  is, — **  If  it  were  not 
so  I  would  have  told  you."  Which  means, 
**  Take  my  word  for  it — God  is." 

Without  the  help  of  Jesus  Christ,  it  is  in- 
creasingly difficult  to  believe  in  God ;  such 
is  the  modern  view  of  the  world.  Mr.  Edi- 
son has  not  found  God  in  any  retort  or  cru- 
cible I  "The  heavens  have  removed  afar  off 
and  become  astronomical."  Without  Jesus 
Christ  we  are  "without  God  and  without 
hope  in  the  world."  But  with  Him,  ah,  with 
Him,  how  easy  it  is !  When  we  see  Him, 
it  is  easy  to  believe.  We  believe,  when  we 
stand  by  Him  as  He  prays,  as  He  intercedes, 
as  He  suffers,  as  He  submits,  as  He  over- 
comes ! 

A  friend  of  mine  stood  on  a  dock  in  New 
York  as  an  Atlantic  steamer  came  in  from 
Southampton.  At  his  side  stood  a  youth 
who  told  him  he  was  there  to  welcome  his 
father  who  had  been  long  absent.  My  friend 
did  not  know  the  father.  At  last  as  the 
steamer  came  nearer,  he  saw  the  youth's  face 
light  up  with  transfiguring  joy.  My  friend 
did  not  see  the  father's  face — would  not  have 


WHERE  TO  FIND  GOD  176 

recognized  it  if  he  had  seen  it— but  he  saw 
the  light  of  that  father's  glory  in  the  face  of 
that  father's  son.     Now  let  me  read  a  text,- 
and  see  if  it  may  not  come  to  you  with  fresh 
meaning.     "God,    who    in    the    beginning 
caused  the  light  to  shine  out  of  darkness,  is 
shining  in  our  hearts  to  give  us  the  Hght  of 
the  knowledge  of  His  glory  in  the  face  of 
Jesus  Christ."     If  we  have  not  seen  God,  we 
have  a  Saviour,— and  a  kinsman— who  has. 
And  all  the  Old  Testament  looks  forward, 
and  all  the  New  Testament  looks  backward, 
to  Jesus  Christ,  and  says,  "  Find  God  there ! " 
Our  capacity   for   God   proves  God.     So 
does  our  need  of  God.     Our  need  I     What 
words  can  speak  our  need  ?    After  they  had 
banished  God  from  France  by  statute,  some 
one  said  amidst  the  blood  and  dust  of  the 
blackest  day  France  ever  saw,  **  If  there  is  no 
God  we  must  invent  [one,  for  we  cannot  get 
along  without  Him." 

The  sorrows  of  life  demand  a  comforting 
God.  The  cares  of  life  demand  a  compas- 
sionate God.  The  injustices  of  life  demand 
a  God  who  rules  in  equity.  The  "  interrupted 
processes,"  the  *'  withheld  completions  "  of  life 
demand  a  perfect  God,  a  God  who  finishes 


176  CHAPEL  TALKS 

the  circle  where  we  mark  a  mere  segment  o! 
it.  The  sins  of'  the  holiest  demand  a  God 
who  is  a  Saviour.  Who  among  us  has  ever 
lived,  since  he  left  the  fair  fields  of  childhood, 
one  whole  white  day  ? 

But  have  we  not  literature  and  art  and 
philanthropy  ?  Oh,  yes,  but  education  never 
saved  anybody.  It  only  makes  us  more 
worth  saving.  Culture  cannot  cure  moral 
cancer.  Socialism  cannot  redeem  society. 
What  are  we  profited,  if  wealth  be  distributed, 
and  we  be  left  covetous  and  cruel  ?  It  re- 
quired more  than  a  moonlight  sonata  to  raise 
Lazarus.  How  many  public  libraries  would 
it  take  to  cast  out  the  unclean  spirits  from 
one  Mary  Magdalene,  or  how  many  art  gal- 
leries to  make  a  saint  out  of  one  John  Bun- 
yan,  or  one  Jerry  McAuley  ? 

Earth's  manifold  voices  cry  aloud  for  God. 
By  the  life  divine  we  seek,  and  the  moral  loss 
we  fear ;  by  the  memories  of  our  unclouded 
years  and  the  hopes  of  all  the  ages  yet  to  be : 
through  life's  short  day  and  death's  long 
night,  our  hearts  and  flesh  cry  out  for  the 
living  God.  And  lo !  our  cry  finds  swift 
response  in  Him  who  shared  our  human  life 
that  we  might  share  His  life  divine,  and  who 


WHEEE  TO  FIND  GOD  177 

died  our  death  that  He  might  be  the  ever- 
lasting Way  to  God. 

I  think  this  morning  of  that  old  mediaeval 
scholar  whom  Browning  represents  as  saying 
— and  what  Johannes  Agricola  said,  Jonathan 
Edwards  said  when  he  wrote,  "  I  am  resolved 
to  make  the  salvation  of  my  soul  my  chief 
business  in  Hfe  "  — 

**  There's  heaven  above,  and  night  by  night 
I  look  right  through  its  starry  roof, 
Nor  suns  nor  moons,  howe'er  so  bright, 
Avail  to  stop  me.     Splendour-proof, 
I  keep  the  broods  of  stars  aloof, 
For  I  intend  to  get  to  God  ! 
For  'tis  to  God  I  speed  so  fast, 
For  in  God's  breast,  my  own  abode. 
Those  shoals  of  dazzHng  glory  past, 
I  lay  my  spirit  down  at  last. 

**  I  lie  where  I  have  always  lain, 

God  smiles  as  He  has  always  smiled, 
Ere  suns  and  moons  could  wax  and  wane. 
Ere  stars  were  thunder-girt,  or  piled 
The  heavens,  God  thought  on  me.  His 
child  !  " 

So  said  the  prodigal :  **  I  will  arise  and  go  to 
my  father." 


XV 
<     The  Power  of  Christ 

**  Most  gladly  therefore  will  I  rather  glory  in 
my  infirmities y  that  the  power  of  Christ  may  rest 
upon  me.^* — 2  Cor.  xii.  g. 

ANY  list  of  the  great  men  of  the  first 
century  of  the  Christian  era  which 
omits  the  name  of  the  author  of  this 
text  is  very  incomplete.  Considered  as  to 
the  power  of  his  personality,  the  scope  of  his 
ambitions,  the  extent  of  his  activities,  the  vi- 
tality of  his  influence  while  living  and  his  in- 
fluence since  he  died,  no  man, — no  mere  man 
— in  that  century,  can  compare  with  Paul. 
That  diminutive,  bald-headed,  hook-nosed, 
near-sighted  Jew — if  tradition  as  to  his  per- 
sonal appearance  may  be  credited — did  more 
to  affect  his  age  and  all  subsequent  ages  than 
any  poet,  philosopher,  warrior  or  statesmen 
of  his  period. 

We  must  not  forget  that  two-thirds  of  our 
New  Testament  was  written  by  this  man.    We 
read  his  words  with  greater  care  and  diligence 
178 


THE  POWER  OF  CHEIST  179 

than  the  words  of  any  other  author  of  that 
age  excepting  alone  those  of  his  Master,  who, 
by  the  way,  was  not  an  author  in  the  tech- 
nical sense  of  the  term.  Jesus  wrote  noth- 
ing, so  far  as  we  know.  He  did  write  once, 
it  is  true,  but  with  a  frail  reed  He  traced 
upon  the  sand  letters  the  next  rainfall  or  the 
footfall  of  the  multitude  speedily  obliterated. 
But  Paul  wrote.     He  wrote  much. 

The  writings  of  Paul  are  interesting,  not 
alone  for  what  they  contain,  but  for  what 
they  do  not  contain.  Great  traveller  as  he 
was,  there  is  almost  nothing  in  his  writings 
to  give  us  any  light  on  the  social  customs  of 
the  people  among  whom  he  dwelt.  Child 
of  Greek  culture  as  he  was,  with  a  soul 
which  must  have  been  sensitive  to  beauty, 
we  look  in  vain  in  his  writings  for  any  trace 
of  description  of  scenes  of  natural  beauty,  or 
for  any  reference  to  the  monuments  of  art 
which  he  must  often  have  seen  and  admired. 
These  omissions  are  very  significant.  They 
emphasize  a  fact  to  which  his  writings  give 
much  positive  testimony,  that  he  had  but 
one  consuming  passion,  and  that  was  to  con- 
vey, neither  sociological,  nor  geographical, 
nor  economic,  nor  artistic   information,  but 


180  CHAPEL  TALKS 

to  proclaim  what  he  called  the  unsearchable 
riches  of  Christ. 

Almost  as  remarkable  is  the  meager  infor- 
mation Paul  gives  us  as  to  his  own  biog- 
raphy. There  is  very  little  in  his  writings  of 
what  Carlyle  once  called  **  the  nasty  nomina- 
tive." We  have  indeed  much  information  of 
value  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  concerning 
Paul's  ministry.  If  Luke  had  not  preserved 
this  information  for  us,  we  were  almost  as 
much  in  the  dark  as  to  Paul's  life  as  we 
are  with  reference  to  Shakespeare's  personal 
history.  There  are  two  or  three  brief  excep- 
tions to  the  rule  of  reticence  touching  himself 
which  Paul  observed.  One  of  these  excep- 
tions is  in  this  chapter.  He  does  allude  to 
a  personal  experience.  But  he  leaves  us  very 
much  in  doubt  as  to  the  real  secret  of  that 
experience.  Nobody  knows  what  was  the 
thorn  in  the  flesh  of  which  he  tells  us  that  he 
besought  the  Lord  that  it  might  depart  from 
him.  Whether  it  was  his  diminutive  stature, 
or  his  defective  vision,  or  an  impediment  in 
his  speech,  or  dyspepsia,  or  rheumatism,  or 
an  ill-tempered  wife,  we  cannot  even  guess. 
Each  of  these  theories  has  had  its  particular 
champion.    It  is  not  important  that  we  should 


THE  POWER  OF  CHRIST  181 

know.  The  essential  fact  is  here, — he  tri- 
umphed over  it,  whatever  it  was.  He  rose 
above  it.  If  he  did  not  ignore  it,  he  used  it 
as  a  stepping-stone  to  a  higher  self.  (I  hope 
it  may  not  be  understood  that,  if  he  was  a 
married  man,  he  used  his  wife  as  a  stepping- 
stone.)  Indeed,  he  did  more  than  merely  to 
use  his  infirmity.  He  gloried  in  it,  gloried 
in  it  for  a  purpose,  namely,  that  the  power 
of  Christ  might  rest  upon  him. 

It  is  of  this  power  of  Christ  I  speak.  What 
is  it  ?  Of  what  was  Paul  thinking  when  he 
wrote  these  words  ?  Does  he  touch  here  that 
eternally  pressing  problem  in  every  reform, 
the  problem  of  the  moral  dynamic?  Does 
he  touch  the  very  heart  and  center  and  soul 
of  Christian  experience  ?     I  think  he  does. 

Power  is  of  three  kinds,  mechanical, 
chemical,  and  vital.  Vital  power  is  of  three 
kinds,  physical,  that  is  to  say,  cellular, 
psychic  and  spiritual.  The  power  of  Christ 
is,  evidently,  vital  and  spiritual.  The  power 
which  Jesus  exercised  during  His  ministry 
on  earth  was  in  part  physical,  and  in  part 
psychic.  It  was  physical  power  He  exerted 
when  He  calmed  the  sea  and  when  He  fed 
the   multitude.     It   was   psychic  power   He 


182  CHAPEL  TALKS 

manifested  when  He  restored  the  demoniac 
to  reason,  and  when  He  taught  His  disciples, 
weaning  them  from  the  traditionalism  of 
their  class  and  winning  them  to  the  large 
tolerance  and  catholicity  of  His  views  of  the 
Kingdom  of  God.  But  there  was  another 
type  of  power  He  possessed  for  which  there 
is  no  better  name  than  soul  power,  spirit 
power.  When  He  delivered  Mary  Magda- 
lene from  unclean  spirits  and  redeemed  her 
to  penitence  and  virtue ;  when  He  reclaimed 
the  coward  and  the  egotist,  Peter,  and  ap- 
pointed him  to  leadership  in  the  church,  in 
which  thenceforth  he  never  defaulted.  He 
exercised  a  kind  of  power  for  which  neither 
physical  nor  mental  science  has  any  adequate 
term. 

The  miracle  of  Christianity  is,  that  when 
Jesus  disappeared  from  the  sight  of  men, 
and  when  His  physical  and  psychic  powers 
ceased,  His  spiritual  power,  which  hitherto 
had  been  local,  began  to  be  universal.  It 
was  expedient  that  He  should  go  away  in 
order  that  that  power  might  be  released  and 
expanded.  It  started  upon  its  world-wide 
and  ago-long  career  on  the  Day  of  Pentecost. 
From  that  day  until  this  there  has  never  been 


THE  POWER  OF  CHEIST  183 

a  time  when  the  power  of  Christ  has  not 
rested  upon  large  numbers  of  people  of  every 
tribe  and  nation,  of  every  temperamental 
inclination,  and  of  every  circumstantial  en- 
vironment. 

Scripture  affirms,  and  Christian  history 
testifies,  that  this  spiritual  power  of  Christ, 
which  rests  upon  those  of  His  people  who 
care  enough  about  it  to  claim  it,  manifests 
itself  chiefly  as  follows  : 

First,  in  spiritual  elevation.  There  are  as 
many  degrees  of  altitude  in  the  spiritual 
world  as  there  are  in  the  physical.  There 
are  cave-dwellers,  and  nomads  of  the  desert, 
and  mountaineers.  God  has  His  mountain- 
eers. They  are  His  fighting  men.  They 
fight  their  batdes  at  high  altitudes,  as  under 
the  very  eye  of  God.  They  live  on  the 
heights.  To  a  prophet  of  old  the  voice  of 
God  spoke  saying,  "  Get  thee  up  into  a  high 
mountain."  Many  of  the  most  significant 
things  in  the  life  of  Jesus  occurred  on  moun- 
tains. He  was  tempted  on  a  mountain,  He 
began  His  public  ministry  on  a  mountain, 
He  was  transfigured  on  a  mountain.  On  a 
skull-shaped  mountain  He  paid  "  life's  arrears 
of  pain,  darkness  "  and  grief ;  from  the  slope 


184  CHA.PEL  TALKS 

of  a  mountain  He  ascended  in  the  attitude 
of  blessing !  Mountain  gloom  and  moun- 
tain glory.  Mountain  trial  and  mountain 
triumph  1  But  aside  from  these  facts,  Jesus' 
whole  life  was  one  of  lofty  aims  and  lofty 
efforts.  Above  the  plane  of  animalism,  and 
indeed  above  the  plane  of  mere  intellection, 
in  the  realm  of  truths  which  could  never 
have  been  discovered  by  any  amount  of  in- 
vestigation or  research ;  in  the  realm  of  forces 
that  are  not  of  the  earth  earthy,  in  com- 
munion with  the  Eternal,  He  spent  His 
lonely,  lovely  years.  Above  the  world  of 
pleasure-seeking  and  money-getting  ;  above 
the  world  of  mere  passive  enjoyment ;  above 
the  world  of  fame  and  social  conquest,  He 
lived  serenely  and  by  choice. 

There  is  a  term  we  sometimes  use  which 
best  expresses  this  detachment,  this  isolation, 
this  insulation  from  the  atmosphere  of  the 
temporal,  this  elevation  above  the  transient. 
We  call  it  unworldliness.  Singularly,  un- 
worldliness  of  the  right  sort  does  not  dis- 
qualify one  from  citizenship  in  this  world. 
The  true  citizen  of  the  kingdom  of  God  is 
the  best  citizen  of  earth, — the  wisest,  strong- 
est, bravest  and  most  useful.     Some  of  the 


THE  POWEE  OF  CHEIST  185 

sanest,  shrewdest,  and  most  practical  char- 
acters the  world  has  known  have  been  men 
and  women  of  most  unworldly  spirit.  John 
Bright  was  such  a  man.  Elizabeth  Fry  was 
such  a  woman.  So  was  Josephine  Lowell. 
Intensely  interested  in  human  conditions, 
and  yet  forever  bearing  about  with  them  an 
atmosphere  of  detachment  from  the  petty 
schemes  of  petty  souls,  they  struck  high 
notes.  That  is  a  pathetic  confession  in  one 
of  Oscar  Wilde's  poems  in  which  he  says : 

"  Surely  there  was  a  time  I  might  have  struck 
one  high  clear  note, 
To  reach  the  ear  of  God." 

The  tragedy  of  life,  the  infinite  tragedy  of 
some  lives,  is  that,  conscious  as  they  are  of 
their  capacity  for  moral  elevation,  they  turn 
aside,  prefer  to  live  in  the  lowlands,  and  thus 
forfeit  their  soul's  inheritance.  This  power 
of  Christ  is  not  inalienable.  Once  possessed, 
it  does  not  secure  its  possessor  against  the 
possible  loss  of  it.  Ceaseless  vigilance  alone 
is  guarantee  of  its  permanence.  **  The  per- 
severance of  the  saints  consists  of  a  series 
of  continual  rededications."  The  power  of 
Christ  rested  on  Paul  apparently  without  a 


186  CHAPEL  TALKS 

break  from  the  time  of  that  vision  at  noon- 
day on  the  Damascus  road  to  the  time  when 
from  the  darkness  of  the  Mamertine  prison 
in  Rome  he  wrote  to  Timothy,  "I  have 
fought  a  good  fight." 

Then,  coincident  with  spiritual  elevation 
and  consequent  to  it,  the  power  of  Christ  re- 
sults in  widened  horizons.  From  high  alti- 
tudes we  see  lands  that  are  far  off,  lands  of 
magnificent  distances.  All  our  talk  about 
home  mission  fields  and  foreign  mission  fields 
is  folly  in  view  of  the  fact  that  from  a  little 
elevation  racial  and  geographical  distinc- 
tions disappear.  Political  lines  separating 
one  kingdom  from  another  are  invisible.  If 
we  could  see  the  world  as  Christ  saw  it,  as 
we  believe  He  sees  it  now,  who  of  us  could 
tell  what  lands  are  "  home  "  and  what  lands 
are  "foreign"  mission  fields?  This  whole 
world  was  a  foreign  mission  field  to  Him 
who  came  to  seek  and  save  the  lost.  And 
since  He  came  to  seek  and  save  the  lost, 
since  these  hills  and  valleys  have  been  made 
sacred  by  the  footfall  of  the  Son  of  Man,  all 
this  world  is  His  home  mission  field. 

The  difference  between  the  great  statesman 
and  the  little  politician  is  largely  a  matter  of 


THE  POWER  OF  CHRIST  187 

vision.  The  statesman  sees  ;  he  ''  guideth  his 
course  by  the  stars."  The  poUtician  thinks 
he  sees.  He  hears  the  clamour  of  the  im- 
patient populace.  The  claims  of  the  present 
and  the  local  fill  him  with  alarm.  What  has 
he  to  do  with  to-morrow?  What  does  he 
care  for  unborn  generations  ?  Henry  Clay, 
standing  on  the  summit  of  a  peak  among 
the  AUeghanies,  heard  the  tread  of  coming 
multitudes  who  were  to  fill  the  valleys  of  the 
Ohio  and  the  Mississippi.  He  who  in  1674 
gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  the  really  valuable 
land  for  purposes  of  settlement  along  the 
Atlantic  Coast  could  not  be  wider  than  fifty 
or  sixty  miles,  was  blind  and  could  not  see 
afar  off.  Two  men  stand  yonder  at  Ellis 
Island.  One  of  them  is  filled  with  alarm  be- 
cause he  sees  a  million  people  entering  those 
open  gates.  He  says,  *'  They  will  crowd 
out  our  native  population ;  they  will  over- 
whelm our  American  civilization."  The 
other  sees  a  little  farther.  He  sees  the  chil- 
dren of  those  immigrants  in  the  public 
school ;  he  hears  the  little  children  of  Polish 
Jews  and  Italian  peasants  singing  "  Land 
where  my  fathers  died," — and  every  one  of 
them  as  proud  of  America  as  though  his 


188  CHAPEL  TALKS 

father  had  died  for  the  flag  1 — and  he  says, 
"  With  broad  lands,  and  free  presses,  and  free 
schools,  and  free  churches,  and  a  free  spirit 
of  democracy,  these  people  shall  not  long  re- 
main aliens  I  '* 

Twenty  years  ago  a  man  of  large  wealth 
and  liberal  impulses  gave  a  liberal  sum  for 
the  building  of  a  church  in  a  newly  opened 
suburb  of  an  American  city.  He  was  called 
foolish,  and  by  some  even  his  sanity  was 
questioned.  He  did  not  live  to  see,  but  his 
critics  have  lived  to  see,  the  justification  of 
that  planting.  That  church  is  now  the  center 
of  a  great  population,  and  it  is  a  veritable 
power-house,  from  which  emanate  both  light 
and  heat  and  energy.  The  man  I  speak  of 
was  gifted  with  vision, — prevision. 

That  Roman  Catholic  missionary  who  was 
not  permitted  to  enter  China,  and  who  paced 
the  deck  of  his  sailing  vessel  looking  long- 
ingly towards  the  forbidden  land,  and  cry- 
ing, "  Oh,  rock,  rock,  when  wilt  thou  open  ?  " 
had  his  unfading  vision.  So  had  Robert 
Carey,  the  cobbler.  So  had  Adoniram  Jud- 
son,  the  apostle  to  Burma.  And  so  have  all 
that  host  of  ten  thousand  men  and  women, 
the  finest  fruit  of  American  college  and  uni- 


THE  POWEE  OF  CHEIST  189 

versity  life,  who  represent  the  Church  of 
Christ  in  the  Orient  and  on  the  Dark  Conti- 
nent. Blind  are  we  who  ask,  **  To  what  pur- 
pose is  this  waste  ?  "  They  see.  The  power 
of  Christ  is  resting  on  them  and  many  a  dim 
and  dying  eye  has  had  glimpses  which  have 
been  denied  us,  of  the  day  when  Christ  shall 
see  the  travail  of  His  soul  and  shall  be  sat- 
isfied. 

I  recall  the  story  of  the  little  daughter  of  a 
medical  missionary  who  was  going  out  to  es- 
tablish a  hospital  on  the  sun-parched  soil  of 
India.  The  child  saw  such  poverty,  such 
destitution,  such  suffering,  such  squalor,  such 
absence  from  human  habitations  of  any  sign 
of  culture  and  comfort  as  she  had  never 
dreamed  of,  and  said  to  her  father,  "It  isn't 
nice  here  at  all,  is  it,  papa?"  And  he  re- 
plied, "  No,  my  dear,  it  isn't  nice  here,  and 
that's  the  reason  we  have  come."  **  Go  tell 
American  women,"  said  a  dying  Hindoo 
widow,  who  had  been  lifted  from  her  poor 
estate  by  the  kind  maternal  arms  of  the. 
church  of  God,  "that  we  shall  be  their  re- 
ward." The  reward,— the  end  of  the  enter- 
prise, the  gathering  in  of  all  the  nations,  the 
moral  conquest  of  the  world  by  the  ideas  and 


190  CHAPEL  TALKS 

ideals  of  Christianity, — who  can  see  this  but 
those  upon  whom  rests  the  power  of  Christ  ? 
Furthermore,  the  physician's  answer  to  his 
little  girl  reveals  another  respect  in  which 
the  power  of  Christ,  resting  upon  us,  finds  its 
expression.  To  read  this  text,  read  also, 
**  The  love  of  Christ  constraineth  us/'  The 
gifts  of  spiritual  elevation  and  widened  hori- 
zons were  mere  phantasms  without  the 
power  imparted  by  the  personal  Spirit  of  a 
personal  Lord.  What  was  His  power  among 
men, — that  power  which  drew  to  Him  all 
good  men  and  women,  all  who  wanted  to  be 
good,  and  all  little  children?  There  is  no 
other  name  for  it  than  love.  Love  for  our  kin- 
dred is  a  very  natural  affection.  He  is  most 
unnatural  who  will  not  do  his  utmost  for  his 
own.  What  name  have  we  ugly  enough  to 
apply  to  one  who  does  not  protect  and  de- 
fend from  wrong  his  own  sister  or  his  own 
daughter  ?  Now  look  into  the  life  of  every 
man  who  devotes  himself  to  the  cure  of  so- 
cial ills,  look  into  the  heart  of  every  man 
who,  though  he  may  not  be  an  active  re- 
former, still  strives  to  wear  upon  his  breast 
the  white  flower  of  blameless  living,  and  you 
will  find  that  he  has  simply  enlarged  his  con- 


THE  POWEE  OF  CHRIST  191 

ception  of  duty  in  relation  to  those  of  his 
own  family  to  the  extent  in  which  he  has 
come  to  see  the  whole  human  family  as  one. 
He  says,  "  I  love  my  own,  but  who  are  my 
own  ?  I  am  brother  to  all  who  need."  That 
is  exactly  the  lesson  of  the  parable  of  the 
Good  Samaritan.  Jesus  spoke  it  in  answer 
to  the  question,  "  Who  is  my  neighbour  ?  " 

A  very  remarkable  story  appeared  in  one 
of  our  American  magazines  a  year  or  two 
ago.  It  was  the  story  of  the  child  of  well- 
to-do  parents  who  had  been  kidnapped,  and 
who  was  lost  forever  to  them.  He  was 
brought  up  among  the  very  poor,  and  at  a 
tender  age  was  put  into  a  factory  where  one 
day  he  met  with  an  accident  which  cost 
him  his  life.  But  it  so  happened  that  the 
largest  owner  of  that  factory  was  that  child's 
own  father.  When  it  was  brought  home  to 
him  that,  in  tolerating  the  unspeakable  evil 
of  child  labour  in  his  mill,  he  was  condemn- 
ing his  own  child  to  virtual  slavery  and  to 
death,  he  saw  more  force  in  the  plea  for  the 
abolition  of  child  labour  than  he  had  ever 
seen  before.  Ah,  yes,  how  we  cherish  our 
own  I  Well,  the  love  of  Christ  is  a  power  at 
once  so  extensive,  so  expansive,  and  so  in- 


192  CHAPEL  TALKS 

tensive,  that  it  leads  those  upon  whom  it 
rests  to  adopt  humanity  as  their  own.  The 
closing  chapter  of  a  recent  popular  story 
gives  us  a  glimpse  of  the  outpouring  of  the 
poor  and  the  lame  and  the  halt  and  the  blind 
at  the  funeral  of  a  physician  who  was  their 
much  loved  and  much  loving  friend.  A  man 
of  the  world  has  come  into  this  poor  section 
of  the  city  to  attend  the  funeral.  He  says  to 
somebody,  *'  Who  are  these  people  ?  They  act 
as  though  they  were  his  father  and  mother  and 
brothers  and  sisters."  And  the  answer  is, 
"  They  are.'' 

I  have  said  all  there  is  time  to  say  about 
the  power  of  Christ  which  the  apostle  speaks 
of,  for  the  sake  of  which  he  was  glad  to  bear 
infirmities  and  even  to  suffer  death.  He 
found,  and  we  shall  find,  that  the  power 
which  rests  upon  us  in  life  will  not  depart 
from  us  when  life  shall  end.  Indeed,  to  one 
who  is  in  league  with  this  power,  life  shall 
never  end,  for  the  power  of  Christ  is  eternal. 


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